Some major issues will be decided in the mail-in election for which ballots were mailed out earlier this month.

Elections Supervisor Rebecca Connors said a healthy number of ballots have already  been returned.

"We've issued over 54,000 ballots and we've seen 13,000 of those come back so far," Connors said. "That's about 25 percent of the ballots returned so far. Since we have about 73,000 registered voters in the districts where we're holding the election, it's about 18 percent turnout so far."

Connors said mail-in election ballots come in as part of a regular pattern.

"We see an initial surge, then we see a plateau about the second week in, and then the third to last weeks we see another big surge," she said. "Overall, I'm expecting between 45 and 55 percent turnout altogether."

The ballots contain city council decisions in all six wards, and various school bond issues, including a combined $158 million request from Missoula School District One.

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