MOUNT VERNON — With the extension of the primary election in Ohio due to COVID-19 concerns, the Knox County Board of Elections is being kept busy with a high demand for absentee ballots.
Kim Horn, director of the BOE, said the office is receiving and processing an average of 300 to 400 applications a day. Applications are grouped together and then ballots and labels are printed and sent out, a process that Horn said takes around fifteen minutes to complete.
“It’s been going smoothly, but we’re very, very busy,” Horn said.
The deadline for voting was extended by Ohio lawmakers until April 28 after a last-minute recommendation from Governor Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to suspend in-person voting the day before the original primary was supposed to take place.
Voters have until April 25 to submit an application for a ballot, and ballots must be returned by April 28 by the end of the business day. Applications can be printed online, or voters can call the BOE to send the application in the mail if that is more convenient. Completed ballots can be dropped off at the dropbox location at the back entrance to the Knox County Service Center, or through the mail until April 28. Horn stressed that applications need to be fully completed, and the most common missing information is the selection of party.
The dropbox will be available until April 28, but it will move with the board when they move into the renovated Central School building on East Chestnut Street, which they will be sharing with Knox County Veterans Services, at the end of the month.
