The Butler County Board of Elections is expected to mail out more absentee ballots this year than all those cast by mail in the 2008 presidential election. But despite the increase in requests, Butler County Board of Elections are seeing a spare increase in mailing costs.

Approximately 25,000 ballots requested by voters will begin appearing in mailboxes by the middle of next week, according to Butler County Board of Elections Deputy Director Jocelyn Bucaro. In the 2008 election, 27,917 ballots were issued by mail and 24,962 were returned.

Bucaro anticipates the board of elections will issue 40,000 to 50,000 ballots by mail for the Nov. 6 election. Tuesday is the first day of early voting in Ohio.

Historically, more and more voters are taking advantage of the convenience of early and absentee voting. Election officials expect that number to grow this year due to a new program by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who announced in June that absentee applications would be mailed to every registered voter in the state

The first batch of applications were mailed Sept. 1 to all voters who registered by July 30. A second group of ballot applications will be mailed Monday to voters who updated their registrations between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. More than 7.7 million Ohioans were registered to vote for the March primary.

“We have seen an increase,” Bucaro said, noting applications for ballots have come in at a faster pace.

State officials estimated the cost to mail applications would be between $2 million and $3 million in postage, which will be paid for by existing federal dollars as part of the Help America Vote act.

County elections boards pay for the mailing of ballots based on the applications received.

Cost of mailing each two-page ballot is 85 cents and it will cost 65 cents in return postage for the voter. Ballots can also be returned in person to the board of elections office at 1802 Princeton Road, Hamilton.

Bucaro said printing ballots on demand — rather the estimating how many will be needed — has helped keep costs down. The ballots are also printed on a lighter weight of paper and folded for mailing.