COLUMBUS, Ohio — Roughly 350,000 Ohio voters have mailed in their absentee ballots so far. But a few have questions about how much postage it actually takes.
10TV has received comments from viewers saying, when they took their absentee ballots to the post office to be weighed, the postage cost more than what the ballot packet instructions said it would. So, we took their concerns to elections officials.
State and Franklin County elections officials say, if you follow the instructions that come with the absentee ballot, your ballot will get delivered.
"The Postal Service assures us that election mail receives special handling," Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. "So, even if you lack the correct postage, it will eventually get to your board of elections."
In Franklin County, the instructions with the absentee packet show return postage is $0.73. That is one Forever Stamp.
One viewer said she took her ballot to the post office to get it postmarked. They weighed it, and it cost $0.28 more than that.
Franklin County Board of Elections spokesman Aaron Sellers says, if you put a stamp on your ballot and put it in the mailbox, it will get to the elections office. He shared a picture of a ballot that was delivered to the board of elections even though it had postage due of $0.28.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose confirmed that ballots will be delivered, but did say the postage can vary across the state.
"Based on where you live you may have local levies, local candidates that may differ from other parts of the state," LaRose said. "So, If you have a two-page ballot, for example, it may only require one stamp, but if your ballot goes to three or four pages, the weight of that may put it into the category where it requires additional postage. Just follow the instructions that are right there in your ballot for the correct amount of postage."
Secretary LaRose also emphasized that voters can track their ballots by going to voteohio.gov/track.