Wood County Board of Elections has received its first batch of absentee ballots. According to Terry
Burton, director of the board of elections, the 19,810 already received are more than enough to fill the
8,400 requests so far from county residents wanting to vote absentee.
The absentee ballots were delayed due to language changes in State Issue 2.
It is unknown when the second batch of absentee ballots – 13,150 of them – will arrive from the printers,
Burton said.
Temporary staff have been hired to help with election preparations. Staff will be working this Saturday
and multiple evenings next week to get absentee ballots out to those who requested them, Burton said.

Burton said he is confident there will be time for voters to return their absentee ballots, which must be
postmarked by Nov. 5.
Military members serving overseas complete their ballots online, so printing delays should not disrupt
their absentee voting.
However, the delay has some concerned, such as Kelly Wicks, who is the Democratic candidate for the Ohio
House.
He is worried a variety of factors may contribute to the absentee ballots being late or not arriving at
all the boards of election, such as the postal service being inundated with campaign mailings, the fact
the absentee ballots should have been mailed out on Oct. 2, and the fact that the postage required is
not marked on the ballots.
Because of the varying pages, due to different issues in different jurisdictions, the exact postage
needed is not marked on the ballots.
However, Burton said the ballots advise voters to check at the post office to ensure enough postage is
used.
Complicating matters is the fact that counties such as Lucas have never required postage in the past, and
Secretary of State Jon Husted has issued a directive that boards of election cannot contact voters about
absentee ballot problems, except through the postal service, Wicks said.
"Elections are supposed to be free and fair," Wicks said.
If the state can send absentee ballot notices to every Ohio voter, "surely we can ensure their
ballots get back to the board of elections," he added.