NORMAN — Registered voters in Cleveland County who want to vote by mail absentee in next Tuesday’s Norman School Special and Oklahoma City Special elections have missed the application deadline, County Election Board Secretary Paula G. Roberts said today.

“They aren’t out of luck, however,” Roberts said.

Voters who want to cast absentee ballots can still do so by going to the County Election Board office, Friday, December 7, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Or Monday, December 10 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. A two-member, bipartisan Absentee Voting Board will be on duty each day to assist in-person absentee voters at the Cleveland County Election Board located at 122 S. Peters Avenue, Norman.

“In-person absentee voters fill out an application form when they arrive at the office. They are not required to state a reason for voting in-person absentee,” Roberts said. “They are required to swear that they have not voted a regular mail absentee ballot and that they will not vote at their polling places on election day.”

Roberts said the Absentee Voting Board verifies a voter’s registration information, and then issues the voter’s ballot. The voter marks the ballot in a voting booth and then puts them in the voting device.

“It is very much like voting at a precinct polling place,” she said

Eligible registered voters in Cleveland County who become physically incapacitated after 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, 2007, won’t have to miss the the election, she said.

Roberts said state law allows registered voters who will be unable to go to the polls because they became incapacitated after 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, 2007 to vote on an emergency basis. “Physical incapacitation” includes a variety of conditions-injury, illness, and childbirth-that prevent a person from voting in person at the polls on Election Day.

“If you think that you or someone you know fits into this category, contact the County Election Board office at 366-0210 as soon as possible for more information,” she said.