With the election less than two months away and the pandemic still moving through the country, a lot of people are looking toward absentee ballots to help move the election along smoothly and safely.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office recently sent out 7.8 million absentee ballot request forms, and over a million of them have been mailed back to his office.
"That's great news," LaRose said. "It helps our board of elections get ahead of the process a little bit."
By returning the absentee ballot requests forms early, workers are able to get the absentee ballots out to Ohioans sooner rather than later, when the system could be inundated with ballots.
"If everyone requests their ballot at the last minute, of course it's gonna swamp the board of elections," LaRose said. "Even with the extra funding we've provided them for new equipment and extra part-time personnel, if everybody waits until the end of October to request their ballot, absolutely there can be a problem."
If you live in Ohio and would like to vote absentee this election, you can fill out the form that was sent to your home and put it in the mail. If you've lost that form, you can either go to voteohio.gov and print off a new form, ask your board of elections to send you a new form or you can take a piece of notebook paper and make your own request form with help from the website.
Absentee and early in-person voting in Ohio begins on Oct. 6.
