In four of North Dakota's largest counties, more than 40 percent of the people who voted marked their ballots before Nov. 4, and the option may become even more popular in the future, Secretary of State Al Jaeger says.

Of the 321,133 North Dakotans who voted in this month's general election, 119,520, or 37.2 percent, made their choices early, Jaeger said Thursday.

At a news conference held to discuss North Dakota voting data, Jaeger said counties may want to open more than one early voting precinct before elections. North Dakota law now limits counties to a single early voting location, and Cass County might have benefited from having two, Jaeger said.

"We talk about costs. We can talk about the procedure … but the main thing in all of this is to provide opportunities for people to cast their vote," he said. "That really is the bottom line."

North Dakotans may vote before Election Day either by requesting an absentee ballot or by visiting an early voting precinct if their home county operates one.

Voters who use an absentee ballot must fill out an application, and the finished ballot usually is mailed to the county auditor.

Burleigh, Cass, Grand Forks, Stark, Stutsman and Ward counties also opened precincts before Election Day to allow their residents to vote early in person. Of those six counties, only Stutsman had a voter turnout lower than the 2004 presidential election.

Stark County had the largest percentage of early deciders. Fifty-three percent either used absentee ballots or voted before Election Day at the Stark County Courthouse.

Cass County ran an early voting precinct at a Fargo motel for nine days before Election Day, and 20,986 people used it, election statistics say. Forty-one percent of Cass County's 72,069 voters either filled out absentee ballots or visited the early voting precinct.

In Grand Forks County, almost 41 percent of the voters made their decisions early, the figures show. In Stutsman County, almost 44 percent did.

Kevin Glatt, the Burleigh County auditor, and Stark County Auditor Alice Schulz said residents of their counties were happy to have several voting options.

Aside from allowing early voting, Schulz oversaw five Stark County "voting centers" on Election Day. Any eligible county voter could vote at any of the centers instead of traveling to a specific voting location within his or her home precinct.

Dickinson had three voting centers, and there were single locations in Richardton, in eastern Stark County, and Belfield, in the west. County residents did not have to worry about walking into the wrong precinct and being told they had to go elsewhere, Schulz said.

"People came in and said, 'This is great that we can just go wherever we want and vote,"' Schulz said.

Glatt said the extra expense of offering more voting convenience should be considered. "As county auditors, we're the ones who pay the bills," he said. "It's a balancing act."

Burleigh County has seen a steep increase in absentee ballot use in recent years, Glatt said.

"Absentee ballots, while very convenient, are also very costly, in postage and envelopes alone," Glatt said. "They are also very labor-intensive … We need to seriously consider how we can change things in that realm, but it is very difficult to put a price on democracy."