photo by: Nick Krug/Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from May 7, 2018, a stack of mail-in ballots sits at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Douglas County voters hoping to cast a ballot in the upcoming primary elections from the convenience of their homes have one day left to request an advance mail ballot.

Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said the deadline to request an advance mail ballot is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

To vote by mail, a registered voter must fill out an application, which is listed on the county’s election website, douglascountyelections.com. Voters may also request an advance ballot through an online form on the state’s website, ksvotes.org.

To be counted, returned advance mail ballots must be postmarked by election day, Aug. 4. An advance mail ballot also requires the voter to provide a signature on the return envelope. Shew said the county would reach out to voters who did not sign their ballots to try to confirm they voted.

“We call the voter, send them a letter and make multiple calls to get the signature,” Shew said. “If the voter can’t come to our office we have teams who will go to their house to collect the signature. We are very aggressive in our attempts to cure the signature on the ballot.”

Those who request a ballot may also track its location in the mail through the county’s Ballot Scout tool, which is also provided through the county’s election website.

Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the county has seen a massive increase of voters choosing to cast their ballots through the mail. Shew previously told the Journal-World that about 18,000 voters had requested advance mail ballots for the primary election, which is about six times more than previous primary elections.