PROVIDENCE – In the cavernous basement of the state Board of Elections office on Branch Avenue, nine workers early this afternoon were feeding absentee and emergency ballots through the counting machines.

They’re not actually counting the votes yet, though, according to Board of Elections Executive Director Robert Kando. They’re merely processing the ballots so they’re ready to press the buttons that count votes once the polls close at 9 p.m.

Unlike the way voters must feed their ballots one page at a time through the machines at the polling locations, the Board of Elections employees can feed piles of absentee ballots through high-speed counters.

Early this afternoon, there were probably 14,000 absentee ballots in the building, Kando said. Between 16,000 and 17,000 people have requested absentee ballots this year, he said.

The approximately 14,000 returned absentee ballots are “at the high end of normal,” Kando said.

As the Board of Elections releases vote totals tonight, absentee votes will be included -- and stated as a separate category for each precinct.

-- Journal staff writer Kate Bramson