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Go Vote: Here’s how Summit County is keeping up with absentee ballots

The process is pretty much the same at other boards of elections across Northeast Ohio.

AKRON, Ohio — With election day less than two weeks away, we already know a record number of people have decided to mail in their ballots. The 3News "Go Vote" team decided to head inside the Summit County Board of Elections in Akron to show you the process of getting them all counted.

"The numbers this year have been tremendously large when you compare ourselves to four years and even eight years ago during previous presidential elections," Lance Reed, Director of Summit County Board of Elections, said.

WATCH: Your step-by-step guide to sending in your absentee ballot in Ohio

On a typical year, about 60,000 voters choose to vote by mail or utilize ballot drop boxes in Summit County. This year, they’re expecting about 120,000.

Keeping up with the influx of ballots is important; they’re using a combination of machines and good old-fashioned manpower. First, the exterior envelope on mail-in ballots gets sliced open by machine.

"We then have our part-time and full-time staff pull that ID envelope out of the exterior return envelope," Reed explained.

All work is done by bipartisan teams to ensure everything is proper. From there, the ID envelopes head to a different team for verification against computerized records. If a ballot can’t be verified, the voter is notified.

"[We] doublecheck to make sure the signature matches, the address matches for the voter, birth date, identification – whether that’s the driver’s license or last four of the social [security number]," Reed said. 

At this point, the security envelope remains sealed. Once a voter’s identification is confirmed, the ballot heads to another room to be opened and inserted into folders by precinct. This process is also completed by bipartisan teams identified by their name badges – red for Republicans, green for Democrats.

With a combination of 150 full and part-time staff working two shifts. Reed says they’ve been able to keep up. They will also add staff leading up to Election Day.

"We've received in about 50,000 by mail out of our 120,000 so far," Reed said. "That makes our workload spread out and much easier through these last 10 or 11 days before Election Day."

But that doesn’t mean you should delay returning your ballot; get it done now.

"The more the ballots that we can get back sooner, the better the processes for all of us so we can make sure we get all the ballots counted in a timely fashion," Reed said.

Remember, if you plan to vote by mail, your ballot must be postmarked by Nov. 2 or dropped off at your board of elections before polls close on Election Day.

Be sure to visit the 3News Voter Guide for more information about the upcoming election.

    

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