OHIO, USA —
Election day is more than 65 days away, but now is the time to start planning how to vote as early voting begins in close to 40 days.
Registered voters in Ohio should be getting an absentee ballot application in the mail soon if they haven't already received one.
If voters want to vote through an absentee ballot, they should fill out the form with their date of birth, mailing address and a signature.
"The signature gets verified by a bipartisan team, a Democrat and a Republican," Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. "Both scrutinize that signature. So don't use your grocery store signature where you're going through the checkout line and you just slap something down there real quick."
Voters have to fill out the application for an absentee ballot by Oct. 29 to get a ballot sent to them.
Once everything is approved by the board of elections, ballots will be mailed out starting on Oct. 8. People can track their ballot request and ballot through Vote Ohio.
"It really gives you that confidence of knowing that the form was received, that your ballot's on the way and then that your ballot has gone back to the board of elections to be counted," LaRose said.
LaRose said once someone chooses to vote with an absentee ballot, that's how they have to vote. People who vote by an absentee ballot have to make sure it is postmarked by Nov. 4 and received within four days after the election to be counted.
Mailing in a ballot isn't the only option people have for voting though.
"Some people prefer the mail-in option where they can do the ballot at their kitchen table and look up issues and candidates," Wood County Board of Election director Terry Burton said. "Other people prefer to just come here to our office knowing it's done and it's completed, and there's many people that just enjoy the experience of election day."
Ohio offers early voting from Oct. 8 through Nov. 3 and there are weekends when it is being offered.
Burton said people should look at their schedules to see what works best for them.
"That way we can get them in and out in the time frame that they want, because certainly on election day morning there's going to be some lines out there because that always happens during the presidential election," Burton said. "So if people aren't comfortable that that's going to be a good option for them in the morning, then they need to consider the early voting or the mail-in voting as another option."
LaRose said the secretary of state department has been working to remove old voters and has found a few hundred invalid voters out of the 8 million registered voters in the state.
He says right now, board of elections throughout the state are preparing voting machines, getting papers ready and making sure there are enough "I voted" stickers for everyone who shows up to the polls.