AUGUSTA — Nearly 120,000 Mainers have already requested absentee ballots for the November election, with Democrats making up a strong majority of early requests, the secretary of state’s office said.

And the requests will keep coming. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap projects upward of 463,000 Mainers will vote by absentee ballot to avoid voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dunlap’s office released the first breakdown of the numbers this week.

About 60 percent of absentee ballot requests so far came from Democrats, who also outnumbered Republicans in absentee voting in the July primary.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot online or via telephone is Oct. 29, which is five days before the election.

That is different from the primary, when Gov. Janet Mills allowed voters to request absentee ballots as late as Election Day, which created problems for clerks and delayed the vote counts.

As in the past, in-person voter registration can still continue right through Election Day.