Millions of absentee ballot applications are heading to Ottawa County residents, or have already been received, as Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, urges Ohioans who plan to vote by mail to send in their ballot applications as soon as possible.

The Ottawa County Board of Elections is charged with mailing a blank ballot to those who asked for them starting Tuesday, Oct. 6.

Absentee ballot applications are being sent to addresses on file for all of the 7.8 million registered voters in Ohio. Voters who want to vote by mail first must fill out the paper request form and deliver it to the county board of elections office.

Elections officials around Ohio and the country are predicting a higher than average number of people will vote by mail this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There have also been concerns that mail delivery has been slowed down in recent weeks.

Ohio has a recent history of encouraging absentee ballots to be submitted. State officials have mailed absentee ballot applications to all registered voters in every presidential or gubernatorial election since 2012.