Two hour delays for early voting

CLEVELAND -- Absentee voters continue to line up early to cast their votes in advance of Tuesday's election.

Absentee ballots can be cast at county Boards of Elections through Monday evening at 8 p.m. Absentee ballots that are mailed must be postmarked by Monday, November 3.

Waiting time for early voters Friday ranged from 45 minutes up to two hours.

"These are the first votes that will be counted," said Dennis Anderson of the election board.

"The first votes you see reported, after the polls close Tuesday night, will be these early votes. We expect a total of 750,000 voters in this election, as many as 300,000 of them early or absentee voters."

More than 2,700 absentee votes received at the Cuyahoga County board have mistakes that must be corrected for the votes to be counted. The most common mistake is voters not sealing their ballot in the voter identification envelope, which then goes into the mailing envelope.

"We are notifying voters of the mistakes by mail," Anderson said. "They will then have until November 14 to come in and make the correction so that their vote can be counted."

An elderly woman who had neglected to seal the identification envelope she mailed had to come to the board office to complete casting her absentee ballot . Even though getting out and about is not easy for her, she said she had a strong motivation --"O-BAM-A!" she shouted.

Records of all absentee ballots cast are recorded on "elector's sheets," which will be delivered to polling places Tuesday morning, indicating the voters who cast their ballots before election day.