LEWISTON — As absentee ballots begin arriving in the mail, the City Clerk’s office is urging voters not to mistakenly throw them away.

City Clerk Kathy Montejo issued a statement Friday asking voters to carefully check their mail for absentee ballots, which should begin arriving at homes within the next week for voters who requested them.

With other campaign information also arriving via mail, Montejo said she’s concerned that an official ballot may be thrown away by mistake.

“Many voters are commenting that they are inundated with campaign literature and blank absentee ballot application forms from many groups, and they are simply throwing them all away without looking at the material,” she said. “Please don’t do this with the ballot by accident. Many voters are voting by absentee ballot for the first time this election and might be unfamiliar with that the mailing looks like.”

Due to the pandemic, that state has seen an unprecedented number of absentee ballot requests, including more than 6,300 in Lewiston. The figure represents 23% of Lewiston’s 27,672 registered voters.

Earlier this week, Montejo said the ballots — filling 15 large mail totes — would be mailed Thursday, meaning they will be arriving at homes over the next week.

In the news release, Montejo included a photo of the city’s ballot envelope along with a description with how to identify it.

Lewiston City Clerk Kathy Montejo said all envelopes containing absentee ballots will look the same and should arrive soon by mail. City of Lewiston photo

She said all of the ballot envelopes will look the same, and that voters should look for:

1) A return address from the town office/city hall.

2) A mailing address label that has the voter’s first and last name, and is not listed as “resident,” “occupant” or “voter.”

3) An envelope with the U.S. Postal Service Election Mail logo on it (campaign material cannot use this logo).

4) An envelope that states “Official Absentee Ballot Material” on the front.