ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. (NewsNation Now) — In some parts of the nation, election officials have started counting absentee ballots. Election workers in North Carolina are getting a head start.

About 800 absentee ballots sent in are the first of many batches to be counted. A team of workers goes through each ballot verifying a signature from the voter and the witness information.

Once the envelope is stamped and approved it takes two workers to access the ballot: one to remove it from the envelope and the other to straighten it. The county’s election equipment machine then scans the ballots.

The entire process is a bipartisan effort.

“At each table, there is one Democrat, one Republican and the chairman oversees it all,” Jason Dedmond, Onslow County Board of Elections Director said.

Depending on where you live absentee ballot counting may already be underway. Some states start counting them up a month before the election. Meanwhile, some voters are receiving extra time to send in their absentee and mail-in ballots.

Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have extended their deadlines this year because of the pandemic.