Supervisors of Elections offices have been pushing for people to request mail-in ballots. They say it’s the safest way to vote during the pandemic. The message seems to be working. It has been record-breaking year for the Lee and Collier County Supervisor of Elections. In Lee County, about 220,000 mail-in ballots have already been requested. Supervisor Tommy Doyle says that in Lee County they’re getting around 1,000 new requests per day. “It’s an insurance policy something might happen where you can’t get off to the polls you can drop it off you can mail it your vote will be counted,” Doyle said. Over in Collier County, 104,000 ballots were sent out just on Thursday. Collier County Supervisor of Elections’ Public Information Officer Trish Robertson says that’s about half of the County’s entire voting population. “We want voters to request a ballot just in case things might change during this pandemic. Where they might feel as we get a little bit closer to the election day if they aren’t comfortable going out in person so they have that additional option which is voting by mail,” Robertson said. “Whether they decide to go in person and drop it off or they decide to actually mail it.” Lee County is set to mail its ballots on Tuesday. “Request early and return it early. Just to get it back to us,” Doyle said. “Nothing is going to change on that ballot get it filled out and returned it to us as quickly as you can.” If election day is creeping up on you and you have yet to put your ballot in the mail, you can always drop it off at various polling locations. “That’s just how ready these voters are going to be to vote,” Robertson said. “In this election, whether they vote by mail-in ballot or not. They are being informed voters. they are preparing for anything that can happen in this election.” The deadline to request your mail-in ballot is October 24 for both Collier and Lee Counties. Early Voting begins on October 19.