WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — Michiganders started early voting at the end of September. And Ohioans started last week. But, some may still be waiting for their absentee ballots and the general election is on Nov. 8.
Area board of elections officials said some of those absentee ballots are in the mail and patience is important while they are being delivered.
Mail-in absentee ballots are still a popular way of voting for many. Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday there are 943,105 requests for mail-in ballots in Ohio, which is a 2.7% increase from the 2018 gubernatorial statewide election.
Wood County Board of Elections Deputy Director Terry Burton said about 9,000 mail-in ballots have made their way in during the second week of early voting.
"We will probably exceed that, but a great majority of our absentee ballots came in when the state did its mail-in of all-registered voters," Burton said.
Lucas County Board of Elections Deputy Director Timothy Monaco said in a statement they have already mailed out 21,087 of the 26,879 absentee ballots requested, and that they must be processed in the order they are received.
Voters started requesting absentee ballots in Ohio in January. But election officials said they couldn't be mailed until early voting began last week.
"Oct. 12 was the first day we were legally allowed to mail ballots, so everyone that had their application in by that date, we went ahead and mailed those ballots out to them," Burton said.
He said as they are only in week two of the absentee process, they are asking voters to call in and see whether it's time to reissue a ballot or whether they should wait for the mail process to play out.
Burton said it's always better to apply earlier than later to avoid mailing delays, so everyone gets their vote counted.
"It's going to take about a week or a little longer for you to get a ballot, once we get through that process, and we keep track of where their mail is through the process, and we really want to make sure that everyone does get their mail-in," Burton said.
Applications for absentee voting are open until noon on Nov. 5 in Ohio, and 5 p.m. on Nov. 4 in Michigan.