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Jessamine County voters who want to avoid possibly long lines at the polls on Election Day have until Friday to apply online for an absentee ballot to be mailed to their address.

Those ballots must be marked, returned in two signed envelopes and postmarked by Nov. 3, or they won’t be counted.

Voters may also return them to a drop box at the courthouse on or before Election Day.

Eligible voters may apply for an absentee (mail-in) ballot at GoVoteKy.com by 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 9.

Like most states, Kentucky does not automatically mail ballots to every eligible voter. A registered voter must apply for an absentee ballot just as during any election year. The difference this year is that any registered voter who wants to claim a medical exemption to in-person voting may do so because of the possibility of contracting the coronavirus at the polls.

Voters may also vote early at the courthouse on the voting machines Oct. 13 through Nov. 2.

Anyone who wants to vote in person at the polls on Nov. 3 may do so at one of six locations: Wilmore Elementary School, Nicholasville Elementary School, East Jessamine Middle School, the Jessamine County Public Library, Southland Christian Church and Faith United Church.The polls open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day.

The disease caused by the virus is also the reason there are only six polling locations this election, so it’s likely to take people longer to vote in person than it would if they were voting at their usual precincts.

Voters should make sure their ballots are placed inside the brown envelope, and then inside the white envelope with the clerk’s address, that both are sealed, and that both are signed.

During the primary elections in June, 359 ballots were rejected in Jessamine County, most of them because they were missing a signature or the signatures didn’t match those on their driver’s licenses or voter registration cards. Other reasons for rejecting them included missing envelopes and envelopes not being sealed.

Voters should check both sides of their ballot when filling it out because there are state constitutional amendment questions on the reverse side.

Jessamine County voters on Nov. 3 will not only vote for president and vice president, but will also for U.S. senator and congressman or congresswoman, state representative, school board, Nicholasville city commissioners, Wilmore council members, a local referendum on alcohol sales in the unincorporated part of the county, and the state constitutional amendment questions, which are about terms for judges and commonwealth’s attorneys and Marsy’s Law, a victims’ rights proposal.

Monday was the last day to register to vote or change one’s registration prior to the election.