(1) In addition to and consistent with the procedures specified in the Montana Code Annotated, and due to administrative necessity, the following shall apply to late registration:

(a) Election administrators shall close late registration at noon on the day before election day. Any elector wishing to register after noon on the day before election day may do so by submitting a voter registration application at the county election administrator's office the day before election day or on election day during polling hours, and appearing at the county election office on election day in order to vote.

(2) Except as provided in (3)(a), an elector who registers or changes the elector's voter information pursuant to this rule may vote in the election only if the elector votes at the county election administrator's office. For the purposes of this rule, voting at the county election administrator's office includes:

(a) immediately after registering under the procedures of this rule, receiving and casting an absentee ballot at the county election administrator's office; and

(b) at any time after registering under the procedures of this rule, receiving in person from the election administrator and returning an absentee ballot directly to the county election administrator's office, either in person or by mail, subject to applicable deadlines.

(3) An elector who changes residence to a different county within Montana 30 days or less before an election may:

(a) vote in person or by absentee ballot in the precinct and county where previously registered; or

(b) update the elector's registration information and vote in the elector's new county of residence, subject to the late registration provisions of 13-2-301 or 13-2-304, MCA.

(4) If an elector has already been sent an absentee ballot for the election, the elector may change the elector's voter registration information only with respect to the next election, and may not receive another ballot from the county in which the voter is newly registered. This voter registration shall become effective on the day following the day of the election for which the elector has already been sent an absentee ballot.

(5) If a late transfer registration applicant who is registered in another county appears in the county election office in order to transfer the applicant's registration, an election official shall, if the county from which the applicant is transferring registration has already printed applicable precinct registers:

(a) subject to 13-2-304(2), MCA, register the applicant in the statewide voter database as a duplicate voter;

(b) issue the applicant a provisional ballot; and

(c) after the election, contact the county from which the applicant is transferring the applicant's registration in order to determine whether the applicant voted in the other county, and follow all other applicable requirements specified in laws and rules for provisional electors.