State receives over 524,000 absentee ballot applications

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COLUMBUS – With Election Day nearing, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that as of Friday, Sept. 16, an estimated 524,631 absentee ballot applications had been received by county boards of elections statewide.

This includes 11,713 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots will start going out later this week on Saturday, Sept. 24. Ballots for all other voters will be mailed out starting October 12th.

“Ohio’s expansive voting options, which includes absentee voting by mail, is what makes our state a national leader in elections administration,” Secretary Husted said. “Voters who decide to take advantage of voting by mail this fall will not only enjoy a secure and convenient process, but their ballots will also be the first to be counted on Election Night.”

Absentee ballot applications must be received by boards of elections by noon on Saturday, Nov. 5, but voters are encouraged to submit their request as soon as possible to ensure sufficient time to complete and return their ballot to the board of elections.

Completed absentee ballots must be postmarked by the day before the election and arrive at the board of elections within 10 days of Election Day in order to be counted. Ohio is only one of 12 states to allow late-arriving ballots to be counted.

If you have not mailed your ballot prior to election week, the Secretary of State’s Office recommends voters take their completed ballot to the post office and request it receive a postage cancellation marking, or return it personally to their county board of elections prior to the close of the polls at 7:30 p.m.

To encourage voters to take advantage of absentee voting by mail Secretary Husted recently mailed applications to voters. Additional information about the statewide mailing is available here. Voters who want to vote by mail may also download an absentee ballot request form at www.MyOhioVote.com.

At this same point in time ahead of the start of absentee voting in 2012, nearly 485,000 absentee ballots had been requested. That year marked the first-ever statewide mailing of absentee ballot applications and voters who took advantage of this option represented a third of all ballots cast in that election – a record 1.87 million absentee ballots were cast by mail and in person.

Staff report

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