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STEUBENVILLE -- Voters in Ohio can ask for a new absentee ballot to make a change but only if it hasn't been submitted to the county board of elections.
Diane Gribble, director of the Jefferson County Board of Elections, said a voter who requested an absentee ballot can request a new ballot three times prior to submitting a completed ballot. Gribble said a person might have spilled a cup of coffee on the ballot or made a mistake in marking the ballot.
Gribble said the original ballot must be returned to the county board of elections before a new ballot can be mailed.
A person cannot change an absentee ballot after it is submitted to the board of elections, she said. A person also cannot change a machine early voting ballot after the voter touches the submit button.
Gribble said a person who didn't receive an absentee ballot after requesting one can vote a provisional ballot at their polling place on election day. That ballot will be held for 10 days to make sure the requested absentee ballot isn't submitted, she said.
Some states do allow a voter to change an early voting ballot prior to election day. Those states include Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
West Virginia also doesn't allow a change in early voting ballots.
Gribble said once an absentee ballot is received by the county board of elections, it is removed from its envelope and stored until election night. Those ballots are counted at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, the time the polls close. The tally of the absentee ballots is posted at 7:45 p.m. on election night, Gribble said.
Gribble said there is no way to match an absentee ballot to the voter, other than the precinct, after the ballot is removed from the envelope.
"That is why it is a secret ballot," she said.
About 18 percent of the county's 47,686 registered voters will cast absentee ballots or vote early in this election at the board of elections office in the Towers, 500 Market St., she said.
Gribble said 1,715 people have voted early at the office and 6,698 voters have requested an absentee ballot as of Tuesday afternoon. Early and absentee voting in this election appear to be down from early and absentee voting in the 2012 presidential election, when 10,084 voters cast absentee ballots and 2,949 voted early in the office.
In Harrison County, officials reported that 347 ballots had been cast in person and through the mail, and another 2,000 ballots had been sent out. Belmont County officials reported that 12,800 residents have cast early ballots.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that as of Friday, an estimated 1.6 million absentee ballots had been requested statewide, with more than 1.05 million ballots already submitted.
There was a 67 percent voter turnout in 2012. Gribble is predicting about a 70 percent voter turnout this year.
(Law can be contacted at mlaw@heraldstaronline.com.)