The first absentee ballots will be in the mail to Shelby County voters Wednesday, Oct. 7, according to the Shelby County Election Commission.

Ballot Basics: Shelby County voters by the numbers

The mail-in ballots arrived at the Election Commission Monday from printers.

So far, about 20,000 voters have requested absentee ballots in place of voting in person during early voting or on election day Nov. 3. Voters have until Oct. 27 to request the absentee option.

By contrast, 8,000 absentee ballots were requested in Shelby County ahead of the same presidential general election cycle four years ago.

The deadline to have the ballots in the hands of the Shelby County Election Commission is the 7 p.m. close of polls on election night.

Shelby County elections administrator Linda Phillips said the ballots will be mailed out in several batches after they are separated by precinct.

“Having workers run from one group of ballots to another simply to fulfill the requests according to the date received is not the most efficient way to get the ballots to the voters,” Phillips said in a written statement Monday. “This method is the quickest and most efficient. We know voters are eager to get their ballots, and we are working to get them their ballots as soon as humanly possible.”