In a Presidential election year with close races where every vote counts, Butler County Board of Elections employees are working to insure anyone who wishes to — including those who are bedridden or behind bars — can cast their ballots.

Jocelyn Bucaro, deputy director of the county board of elections, said staffers go to local nursing homes and the Butler County Jail to collect ballots from patients and inmates who want to vote.

People awaiting trial or serving time in jail on misdemeanor convictions can request an absentee ballot and vote. However, by law, anyone convicted of a felony is not permitted to vote while incarcerated.

Likewise, people who are confined to retirement homes or assisted living facilities who may need assistance in completing a ballot can also vote by absentee ballot.

In the 2008 Presidential election, 612 votes were cast in Butler County assisted living facilities and 30 votes in jail. This year, 719 votes have been cast in assisted living facilities and 5 prisoners have requested absentee ballots.

Election laws require a Republican and an Democratic staff member to visit the remote locations for voting, Bucaro said. On Friday, staff members will go to the jail to vote the handful of prisoners. Staff members have already visited nursing facilities.

The law allows people with medical emergencies to apply of an absentee ballot by 3 p.m. on Election Day. A Federal class-action law suit filed by a group called Fair Elections Ohio earlier this month asks a judge to make boards of elections “provide a means of voting for all confined voters that is at least equivalent to that provided for hospitalized persons.”

The Saturday before the election is the deadline for boards of elections to receive absentee ballots in the mail, meaning anyone arrested Nov. 2 and kept behind bars until after Nov. 6, can not vote.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he does what the law requires to give voting access to prisoners. A notice is posted in the jail informing them of their voting rights.