COLUMBUS, Ohio — If you vote by absentee ballot, you might need to get your ballot in the mail earlier in future elections. The Ohio Senate passed a bill Wednesday afternoon to eliminate the four-day grace period for mail-in ballots to be received by county board of elections offices. The vote was 23-10 mostly along party lines.

Clerks in Leelanau, Grand Traverse and Antrim counties said half of all absentee ballots have been returned, but they are prepared for voters to submit their ballots in whatever way