One-on-one conversation with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The general election on November 3 is still weeks away, but voting is well underway in Ohio.

On Thursday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sat down with NBC4 and gave an update on this election.

"Ohioans know it's easy to vote," said Secretary LaRose, (R) Ohio. "They're taking advantage of Ohio's convenient early voting opportunities in record numbers and that's great news,"

A historic number of Ohio voters are taking part in early voting, and a record-breaking number of voters have requested absentee ballots this election.

Some have questioned the security of voting absentee, especially after wrong ballots were sent to nearly 50,000 voters in Franklin County last week.

Despite the error, Secretary LaRose says voting absentee is still a safe and viable option.

"Whenever there are humans involved, there is a possibility for human error," he said. "We understand that and we learn from it and we've been pushing our boards of elections to learn from those lessons and make sure those same mistakes aren't repeated again."

The number of absentee ballots has some people concerned results could be delayed on election day. These ballots can come in up to ten days after the election if they are postmarked by November 2.

Secretary LaRose says Ohio will still have unofficial results just like every other election.

"All the absentee votes, all the early votes and all the in-person election day votes, as long as they're received at the county board of elections on election night at 7:30, will be tabulated. Those will be reported," LaRose said.

This year, along with those unofficial results, Secretary LaRose will release the number of outstanding absentee ballots that could still potentially come in and be counted.