Arkansans who plan to vote by absentee ballot have a looming deadline by which absentee applications are due.
Arkansans who are unable to vote at their polling places during early voting or on Election Day are required to mail, fax or email their applications for absentee ballots by Tuesday. Applications sent via mail must bear a postmark of Tuesday or earlier.
Applications can be downloaded from the secretary of state's website or sent by a county clerk's office upon request. Voters who miss the absentee-application deadline can submit the application in person by the end of the business day Nov. 7. Completed absentee ballots must be submitted by the same time.
In total, 12,256 absentee voters were on the state's roster as of Wednesday evening, according to data from the secretary of state's office. The number has continued to grow in tandem with high turnout numbers during the first few days of early voting.
[INTERACTIVE LIST: Find the local races in your county or city]
In Washington County, the number of voters on the first day of early voting more than doubled the number in 2012. The number of ballots cast increased by more than 140 percent to 4,137 votes, County Clerk Becky Lewallen said. As of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, her office had issued 1,922 absentee ballots.
White County counted 2,839 early votes cast by Wednesday afternoon, of which 13 percent were absentee votes. In Dallas County, 370 early votes were cast, and the clerk had distributed 104 absentee ballots.
"Usually we never go over a hundred, so we're already higher than we have been," Dallas County Clerk Susie Williams said.
"Normally maybe 30 percent of our registered voters voted early, and I think we're going to pass that by the time it's over," she added.
The two-week early voting period ends Nov. 7.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the secretary of state's office said the preliminary early-voting total for the state amounted to 111,617 -- already 25 percent of 2012's record-breaking 439,262 early votes cast.
Other states also have reported high turnout figures. Nearly 480,000 Tennesseans had cast ballots through the first four days of early voting, up from the 388,000 who went to the polls through the same period in the 2012 election.
In some areas of Texas, early voters broke first-day records set in 2012: Harris County reported more than 60,000 first-day voters. Election administrators in Dallas and Tarrant counties reported record first-day turnouts of about 43,000 voters in each county, and Bexar and Travis county officials reported about 30,000 first-day voters.
In Arkansas, 18,777 early votes had been cast in Pulaski County by Wednesday evening, the county reported.
As of Tuesday morning, 6,526 early votes had been cast in the county, of which 24 percent were absentee ballots. County officials estimated they would see 5,000 to 10,000 absentee ballots by Election Day. In 2012, the county received 5,005.
Early voting "has changed voting in Arkansas over the last 10 years," Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane said. "People are voting early and are not having to take off work at inconvenient times to get it done. It's easier than it used to be, and that's a good thing."
To make things easier for Arkansans confined to hospitals, nursing homes or state licensed care facilities, some Arkansas counties provide additional absentee-voting options.
Such voter may appoint an "authorized agent" who can file an affidavit from the administrative head of a hospital or nursing home to the county clerk verifying that the voter is a patient at the facility. Affidavits must be submitted to the clerk by 1:30 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots completed by patients must then be submitted to the clerk by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
A voter also may appoint a "designated bearer" to submit a ballot on his behalf. A designated bearer must submit an authorization form signed by the voter to the county clerk's office in order to receive the voter's ballot. These forms also are due by the end of the business day Nov. 7.
Once the bearers have delivered a ballot to the voter, the ballot must be returned to the county clerk by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
State law limits the number of voters a designated bearer can assist to two. The Arkansas Legislature adopted this caveat after concerns were raised over the 2006 legislative race in which Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener, bested former state Rep. Arnell Willis by 68 votes.
In 2008, Willis challenged Crumbly's election before a state Senate committee, accusing Crumbly's campaign of stuffing ballot boxes by the hands of a designated bearer hired by Crumbly. The bearer told the Senate committee that she handled 175 to 200 ballots.
The election results ultimately were upheld, but the hearing compelled former state Sen. Steve Faris, chairman of the committee, to sponsor a bill limiting a designated bearer's ballot load.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 10/27/2016