POMEROY — With the Ohio Secretary of State initiating a statewide absentee ballot application mailing system this year, the expectation of the Meigs County Board of Elections is that there will be an increase in absentee voting in the county in the Nov. 6 election.

The Secretary of State’s office reported this week that more than 484,000 absentee ballot applications have now been received by county Boards of Election across the state.

To date the Meigs County Board of Elections has received 975 requests for absentee ballots for the coming election, according to Becky Johnston, director, She said that ballots will be mailed out to those who have filed applications beginning on Oct. 2.

Johnston said that every registered voter in Ohio who voted in the last presidential election will receive an application from the Secretary of State to fill out in applying for an absentee ballot. The completed applications are to be returned to the county Board of Elections.

As for Meigs County she noted that at the last presidential election approximately 1800 residents voted absentee. She said she expects that figure to increase somewhat this year because of the state mailing which has not as yet been completed.

Johnston advised that in the state of Ohio every time there is an election — primary, special or general — voters must fill out another application and submit it to the local Board of Elections to get a voting ballot.

She said the last date for absentee ballots to be mailed to the Board of Elections is Nov. 3 which is the Saturday before election, or they can be returned to that office by not later than 7:30 p.m. on election day.

For those who vote absentee, who had moved or changed their name but did not notify the Board of Elections, and which require verification as a registered voter, those become provisional ballots which are not counted until the official count which has to be completed by Nov. 27.

The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 9. That day the Board of Elections will be open until 9 p.m. to handle registrations.

Office hours will be extended beginning on Oct. 2 to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Then starting on Oct. 22 the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday, Nov. 2, when it will close at 6 p.m., unless otherwise determined by a court decision, Johnston said.