Officials at the Ada County Elections office mailed more than 8,600 absentee ballots Friday morning—the first official day of early voting prior to the presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Ada County mailed an additional 349 ballots to members of the military and Idaho citizens who will be oversees during the election. Officials are anticipating as many as 195,000 Ada County voters will cast ballots in the upcoming contest.

Absentee ballots can be requested via email here.

For those voters who want to cast an early ballot in person, they can do so starting Monday, Oct. 19.

"Elections have become more expensive, beginning with the technology and staffing. So, we're constantly trying to find out efficient ways to facilitate as many voters as possible," said Ada County Deputy Clerk Phil McGrane. "It's in everyone's interest to serve as many early voters as possible, so that we can avoid those long lines on Election Day and encourage a larger electorate."



In August, Ada County unveiled its new mobile polling place, which will rotate between locations throughout the early voting season.

"How should I describe this? We're going to be 'food truck voting.' Picture a food truck, and that's a pretty good idea of what you'll experience at our new mobile voting unit," McGrane said at the time. "It's our own design: a trailer with pop-up windows and awnings. Four election workers will be inside the mobile unit. You'll go up to the window, get your customized ballot printed out, vote and have your ballot scanned right there."

The locations of the mobile polling place will be revealed as Ada County approaches the early voting season.