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In preparation for next month鈥檚 election, ideastream is answering your questions about voting. A listener in Yellow Springs asked how election officials can spot double voting and what the penalties are for trying to vote twice. Poll workers have electronic poll books that list who鈥檚 voted and who鈥檚 applied for an absentee ballot.

Several Northeast Ohio boards of elections are expanding their capacity to accept dropped-off absentee ballots amid a surge in early voting. Local election officials are adding drop boxes and ballot collection points鈥攂ut they鈥檙e doing so only in the immediate vicinity of boards鈥� headquarters, following an Oct. 5 directive from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

In the lead up to next month鈥檚 election, ideastream is answering your questions about voting. Lacey from Columbus asked what happens if your ballot seems to have been lost in the mail. According to Portage County Board of Elections Deputy Director Terry Nielsen, if a voter calls into the board to report a missing ballot, the board can mark an already mailed absentee ballot as void and send a new one.

Throughout October, ideastream is answering your questions about the election, voting and more. We talked with Faith Lyon, director of the Portage County Board of Elections, and got answers to your many ballot signature validation questions. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking for similarities and closeness,鈥� she told ideastream. 鈥淲e understand certain conditions cause individual signatures to maybe vary daily. So we鈥檙e really looking for that consistency of what is close to your normal signature.鈥�