COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio’s registered voters should be receiving forms in their mailboxes this week that they can fill out and return to apply for an absentee ballot for the November election.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that seventeen tractor-trailers have delivered absentee ballot applications to the United States Postal Service for mailing to voters.

It is important to emphasize that the forms are not an actual ballot. Voters must complete the application and send it back to their county board of elections to receive an absentee ballot.

LaRose has recommended voters submit their request right away, but no later than October 27. Absentee ballots will be sent by the voter’s respective county board of elections beginning October 6.

By getting their ballot request forms in early, voters will ease the burden on both county boards of elections staff who are expecting a significant influx of election mail, as well as the postal workers in their community who are working to make sure it’s delivered on time, according to LaRose.

The first round of the mailing included voters currently registered in the state of Ohio. There will be two more rounds of forms still to be mailed to Ohioans who register to vote through the October 5 registration deadline.

The current estimated cost of the mailing is $1.1 million and is funded by federal CARES dollars.

Absentee ballot application tips:

Doublecheck the information on your form

• Review your ballot request and ballot to ensure you have filled it out properly, including writing the appropriate date, providing the required identifying information, and signing the form.

Include your e-mail and/or phone number

• For the first time in a general election, the county board of elections will be calling or e-mailing voters who may need to remedy information on their ballot request form or absentee ballot envelope. Including your information will ensure you can be reached if your ballot request doesn’t have everything filled out properly.

Don’t wait

• To accommodate necessary processing time at the county board of elections and the time required for the United States Postal Service to deliver elections mail, voters should not procrastinate – fill out and mail your absentee ballot request as soon as possible.

Local Board of Election Addresses

• MAHONING COUNTY
• 345 Oak Hill Ave. - Entrance A, Youngstown, OH 44502

• TRUMBULL COUNTY
• 2947 Youngstown Rd SE, Warren, OH 44484

• COLUMBIANA COUNTY
• 7989 Dickey Drive, Suite 3, Lisbon, Ohio 44432

Track your ballot

• Once the county boards of elections receive a ballot request, voters may track their ballot at VoteOhio.gov/Track.

Important deadlines

If a ballot is postmarked by the day before the Tuesday, November 3, 2020 election and received within ten days after the election at your county board of elections, the vote will be tabulated, say election officials.

Ohio has mailed absentee ballot request forms to registered voters in every even-year general election since 2012. LaRose says absentee voting in Ohio is time-tested and has security checks in place. Ohioans have used absentee voting for nearly two decades, and that has allowed the state to put in place both the laws and processes necessary to make absentee voting secure against fraud, says LaRose.

Only after an application is verified by the bipartisan teams at a county board of elections is a ballot mailed to a voter.  According to the Secretary of state, voter identification and signature will be checked twice during the process.