The DeKalb County Election Commission sent letters out last week to inform property rights voters in the city of Smithville on the proper procedure for voting in the package liquor referendum in November.Over 150 letters were sent to property rights voters telling them that if they wish to cast a vote in the referendum they can only do so by absentee ballot.Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley said that because the referendum is being held in conjunction with a county-wide election, the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to institute a relatively new state law that allowed the city to require property rights voters cast ballots only by absentee mail.“We asked the board to adopt this ordinance as a means for making it more convenient for the property rights voter and to eliminate potential confusion on election day,” Stanley shared.The move should help avoid confusion on election day, Stanley said, as many city voters who live in the county would have been required to vote at two different locations without the measure.“Had the city not voted to make this change, property rights voters who waited until election day to cast their ballot would have had to vote in two different locations—their county precinct and one of the four precincts located inside the city limits,” Stanley said. “Even those who voted early would have had to go through the line twice-once to vote their county address and once to vote as a property rights voter.”The board’s decision to require absentee mail ballots for property rights voters applies only to the Nov. 6 election.Registered voters who live inside the city are not affected by this change.According to Stanley, an application for an absentee ballot was included in the letter mailed last week.“If a property rights voter wants to cast a ballot in the referendum, all they have to do is fill out the form included with the letter and mail it back to our office,” he said. “Then at the appropriate time we will mail them a ballot for the referendum.”Stanley cautioned that property rights voters who do not vote by mail will have no opportunity to cast a ballot in the city referendum on election day.“Remember, this is the only way a property rights voter can cast a ballot in the referendum,” he stressed.