COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A small fraction of Ohio voters’ absentee ballot requests may have been mistakenly rejected due to a recently discovered glitch in the transfer of change-of-address records.

Even though the deadline for voters to register or change their address was three weeks ago, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted just this week sent about 33,000 updated registration records to local elections officials. The local boards had to immediately process the records to ensure those voters could properly cast a ballot in the Nov. 6 election.

An unknown number of absentee ballot applications across the state have been rejected due to the delay because election officials did not have some voters’ current addresses.

Officials in Cuyahoga County said 71 such applications were rejected. Those voters now will be sent new absentee ballots. Figures for rejected absentee ballot applications in other counties were not immediately available.

The delay can be traced to a breakdown in the data-sharing partnership between the Secretary of State and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Husted last year began working with the BMV to coordinate the agency’s online change-of-address system with the state’s voter registration rolls.

But, according to a directive Husted sent Monday to election officials across the state, "the vast majority of the records collected electronically through the BMV change of address system between July and Oct. 9, 2012 were transferred late last week."

Husted, a Republican, sent the updated data to county boards of elections in batches on Monday and Tuesday. He called the timing "unfortunate" in his directive.

Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Eric Kearney, of Cincinnati, criticized Husted for not acknowledging the problem more publicly – in a media advisory, for example – so voters could be aware of any potential problems.

"The secretary of state needs to explain why this happened," Kearney said. "We’re just very concerned about the confidence people have in the voting system in this state."

The data-transfer failure began with the BMV, said Geoff Dutton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which oversees the BMV. A website the bureau launched in July allowing users to update their information was supposed to transfer information to the secretary of state’s office.

"The glitch was clearly with our web page not being in sync with the file that was sent over to the secretary of state’s office," Dutton said, adding that an employee caught the problem about a week ago.

The BMV’s online records are only a portion of the data the BMV shares with Husted’s office to keep voter registration records updated, Dutton said.

Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said it would have been nice if the problem had been caught sooner. But he said Husted’s efforts to clean the state’s voter rolls, including his work with the BMV, have been successful overall and will cut down on the number of provisional ballots cast in the election. Provisional ballots are given to voters when their eligibility is in question, and the ballots are held 10 days to determine eligibility.

"At the end of the day, we’re proud of the work we’ve been able to do with the BMV and think this is a good thing for the voters and we’re getting the records updated," McClellan said.

Cuyahoga County received 2,760 new voter registration records, said Jane Platten, director of the board of elections.

Platten said the records have been updated and those voters will be mailed new voter registration acknowledgment cards. Poll books at each precinct will have up-to-date information on Election Day so those voters will not have to vote provisionally, Platten said.

The Franklin County Board of Elections received more than 4,900 new voter registration records this week, spokesman Ben Piscitelli said in an email. He did not yet know how many absentee ballot applications were rejected due to the delay.

Voters who get a new absentee ballot due to the confusion have a few options.

The ballot can be returned by mail as long as it is postmarked the day before the election. It can be returned in person at a voter’s board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Or, just like anyone who requested an absentee ballot but has not returned it, a voter can visit their board of elections to vote early. In that case, the absentee ballot request is suspended so the voter can cast an in-person ballot.

Early voting, which began Oct. 2, has been popular with Ohio voters.

More than 1.2 million Ohioans had already voted in the presidential election as of Oct. 26, Husted’s office announced Tuesday. Of those early voters, more than 306,000 cast their ballot in person at a board of elections or voting center.