CLEVELAND -- With the polls just a few short hours away from opening, workers at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections have been busy scanning absentee ballots early to help things go smoothly on Election Day.

NewsChannel5's Duane Pohlman reported that the Board of Elections is running ahead of schedule, and Board of Elections Director Michael Vu said he anticipates the scanning to be complete Monday evening.

VOTE 2006: Special Section | Voting Instructions | Polls | Find Polling Location More than 100 workers have been scanning thousands of ballots since 7 a.m. Monday, and has proceeded nearly flawlessly, officials said.

More than 70,000 ballots have been sent in so far and nearly all of them have been scanned. Elections officials believe the count will be on time this year.

"This helps us so that we are able to release absentee results at 7:30 p.m. like the community and the media and the candidates are used to," said Board of Elections Deputy Director Gwen Dillingham.

While the scanner presented big problems during the May primary, there were just two minor glitches this year -- a bad battery and a paper jam.

Meanwhile, officials at the Board of Elections are continuing to prepare for Tuesday's election, making sure there are no issues with the electronic voting machines and doing other last-minute checks.

The polls will open Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. and will close at 7:30 p.m.

NewsChannel5 and NewsNet5.com will bring you the results as they come in after the polls close.