Ohio election officials: Vote your absentee ballot if you have one

CINCINNATI - Election officials in Ohio are urging voters who are in possession of an absentee ballot to use it and not choose to vote in-person at the last minute.

"The sooner, the better that they send them in," said Joe Mallory an elections administrator at the Hamilton County Board of Elections. "The reason is that we have to process all of them and if we get in the last couple days 30,000 that's what's going to slow down the process."

Additionally, a voter would have to fill out a provisional ballot at the polling location if they choose to vote in-person after already receiving an absentee ballot.

"If this election would prove to be as close as some people are speculating, frankly the nightmare scenario is, that it is possible that we might not know the winner of Ohio until about 12 days after the election," said Tim Burke Chairperson of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

Under Ohio law, provisional ballots cannot be counted until 10 days after they've been cast so that there is time for the state to verify the voter's information.

"I like the eyes of the nation to be on the state of Ohio, but not for 10 days while we're waiting to count votes," joked Burke.

Currently Hamilton County absentee voters have voted and returned roughly 70 percent of absentee ballots.  Butler County voters have returned roughly 65 percent.

"We usually run about 90 percent people returning their absentee ballots and we're hoping for the same thing this year," said Sally Krisel Deputy Director of Elections for Hamilton County.

Krisel will, most assuredly, be joined by the rest of the country eager to learn the outcome of the presidential election.