Voting in the 2012 general election is officially underway in Leon County.Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho greeted more than 16,000 absentee ballots at the local post office this morning, and they will be landing in voters’ mailboxes throughout the week.Sancho’s office will be sending out more ballots between Oct. 31, and he said he expects tens of thousands more will be distributed before then.

Under state law, ballot cannot be sent out until 35 before election day, which is Nov. 6. That means today is the first day elections supervisors can mail absentee ballots to voters.

Some 200 Leon County residents have already voted in the election. There is also one week left to register to vote.