More than 80 percent of absentee ballots returned so far

More than 80 percent of the absentee ballots local clerks mailed to voters have now been returned, according to the latest update from the Elections Commission.

That’s an additional 39,268 ballots logged by local clerks compared to yesterday’s update.

The latest numbers show the state nearing the return rate for mailed absentee ballots from the spring 2016 election, though still well behind the fall 2016 race.

In spring 2016, which included contested presidential primaries for both parties, 95,850 absentee ballots were mailed to voters. Of those, 15,364 weren’t returned, couldn’t be delivered or were received after the deadline. That’s a return rate of 83.7 percent.

In fall 2016, 172,828 absentee ballots were mailed to state voters. Of those, 14,921 weren’t returned, were undeliverable or were sent back late. That was a return rate of 91.4 percent.

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The daily updates from the Elections Commission don’t differentiate between absentee ballots that were requested in person vs. those that were mailed. Comparisons to past elections are also difficult because it is expected the vast majority of absentee ballots cast this spring will have been mailed to voters.

In the 2016 fall election, mailed absentee ballots amounted to 5.8 percent of all votes cast in the election.

Absentee ballots that were postmarked by Tuesday can still be counted so long as they’re received by Monday.

See more here.