MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - State officials said today that over 225,000 Wisconsinites have applied for absentee ballots for the November 6th elections.

About 125,000 ballots have been sent by mail – and around 100,000 have been issued directly in local clerks’ offices.

Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy says around 20 percent of all November ballots will be cast through the absentee process. That’s about the same as the last presidential contest four years ago.

The early voting period began on Monday, and it runs for another week – ending next Friday.

Elections’ administrator Nat Robinson says that if you vote in a clerk’s office, your ballot will not be stuffed into a ballot box or a tabulating machine. He says all absentee ballots must be sealed into envelopes – and they’ll be sent to the proper polling places where they’ll be counted on Election Night.