For the last day to register to vote, foot traffic and phone calls were steady Tuesday in most Toledo-area boards of elections offices.

“It’s been non-stop calls and people coming in,” Melanie Gilders, director of the Fulton County Board of Elections, said of the last day to register. “It has been very steady all day.”

Tuesday night was the deadline to register to vote in Ohio and Michigan. Early voting starts at 8 a.m. today in Ohio.

“I think it will be busy,” she said of the first early vote day. “We typically move them in and out pretty quickly.”

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Gina Kaczala, director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said her office received stacks of registrations, in bulk, Tuesday.

“We get some of the groups out there for both sides that are actively registering people and they will drop off on the last day,” Ms. Kaczala said. “I just did 20 stacks of 50. We also have had people coming in because we are open until 9 p.m. the last day of registration.”

The Lucas County Early Vote Center is at 1301 Monroe St.

Ms. Kaczala said nearly 30,000 Lucas County voters requested an absentee voter ballot for this election, among nearly a million statewide who have done so.

Ohio law allows voters to request an absentee ballot as late as noon on the Saturday before the election.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that as of last Friday, 1,091,188 absentee ballot applications had been received by county boards of elections statewide. That included 17,300 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots were mailed starting Sept. 24.

Nearly 7.8 million Ohioans are registered to vote.

Voters who want to vote by mail may also download an absentee ballot request form at MyOhioVote.com, he said.

Meanwhile, Terry Burton, director of the Wood County Board of Elections, said he expects long lines today for the first day of early voting.

“Very busy. Extremely busy,” Mr. Burton said. “I expect we will have lines. After the first couple of days it slows down.”

Times for early voting in Lucas County are: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 21; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays Oct. 24 through Oct. 28; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays Oct. 31 through Nov. 4; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5; 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6; and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published October 12, 2016, 4:00 a.m.