Carbon County’s mail-in and absentee ballot applications for the upcoming presidential election have topped 9,000.

On Thursday, Lisa Dart, director of elections, announced that as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, her office has received a total of 9,196 mail-in and absentee ballot applications.

There is a problem her office is dealing with though, and that is people sending in more than one application. In addition, the office has also found over 3,500 duplicate applications.

“If you already submitted one and you keep getting these (mailers from various organizations with applications), don’t resubmit,” Dart said.

She stressed that the mailers being sent out with applications are not coming from her office and noted that ballots being sent out in red envelopes are not coming from the county.

Ballots will begin getting mailed out today.

Dart said that her office will begin with absentee ballots and then mail out mail-in ballots over the next week.

She stressed that if you and a friend do not receive the ballot on the same day, that is OK because ballots will be mailed out by district.

A sample ballot will also be uploaded to the Carbon County website next week.

Dart urged anyone voting by mail to fill it out, sign it and send it back quickly to allow enough time for it to be processed through the mail and received by her office.

She stressed that voters will receive two envelopes with their ballot, a security envelope and the mail back envelope. Completed ballots must be first placed in the security envelope and then in the mail back envelope, which includes a unique bar code for that specific voter.

If the ballot is received without both envelopes or without a signature, under election rules, it must be disqualified.

Only one ballot can be in an envelope as well, meaning multiple voters in the same house must each send in their ballot separately.

For those wishing to drop off ballots rather than mail them, a secured drop slot is located at the front entrance of the 76 Susquehanna St. building. Any election material, including completed ballots or applications, placed in that slot drops into a locked box that is checked daily by election staff.

No drop boxes for ballots will be placed throughout the county, Dart said.

For those who apply for a mail-in ballot then choose to vote in person on Nov. 3, Dart said you must bring all parts of the ballot you were mailed with you and surrender it at your polling place and you and the judge of elections must sign a declaration before you can cast your vote.

Dart said anyone who has questions regarding applications can call her office at 570-325-4801.