CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state senator says he may file a complaint with the secretary of state's office over an unusual spike in requests for absentee ballots in Lincoln County, along with allegations of individuals being encouraged to sign pre-marked ballots.

"I'm willing to stick my neck out formally to find out, number one, if there is a problem, and number two, to act before those 800-and-some ballots are counted," said Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone.

Stollings is running for re-election in the 7th District, made up of Boone, Lincoln and Logan counties and part of Wayne County. He faces a primary challenge from Delegate Jeff Eldridge, D-Lincoln. Election Day is Tuesday.

Stollings said he had first heard concerns from County Commission and school board candidates in Lincoln County about the unusual spike in requests for absentee ballots this election cycle.

As of  Friday, the county clerk's office had processed 825 applications for absentee ballots, according to The Lincoln Journal. By comparison, the May 2008 primary election -- which included the offices of president, U.S. Senate, and governor on the ballot -- had a total of 265 absentee ballots.

Eldridge issued a statement Wednesday saying he supports Stollings' pursuit of an investigation of any absentee voting irregularities.

"If what he is alleging is true, it must be stopped, and the perpetrators prosecuted. This is one area in which my opponent and I agree," Eldridge said. "Rest assured that this is not condoned within my campaign, and is not originating from within from my campaign."

Stollings said he anonymously received an audiotape that features someone offering $25 for a person to sign an absentee ballot. On another part of the tape, the person is encouraged to sign his name to a "list of candidates."

Stollings said Wednesday he plans to decide shortly whether to file a formal complaint with Secretary of State Natalie Tennant's office. "The idea is to impact these ballots now, not after they've been counted and canvassed," he said.

Tennant said her office could not comment specifically about any investigations of possible election law violations. But she said there are safeguards in state law to discourage campaign fraud involving absentee ballots.

People must request absentee ballots from their county clerk's office, and the ballots have to be signed off by representatives from each major party.

"Unlike no-excuse early voting, to vote absentee, you have to have an excuse and a reason why you need an absentee ballot," Tennant said.

Each absentee ballot has an identification number, so it would quickly become obvious if someone was duplicating and mass-distributing absentee ballots, she said.

Some initial allegations of election violations in Lincoln County indicated that as many as 1,000 absentee ballots were being distributed "door to door."

Wednesday was the last day to request absentee ballots for next week's primary, and those ballots must be postmarked or hand-delivered by Monday.

Tennant said her office can initiate investigations of possible election law violations if they receive a formal complaint or if they have reason to believe a violation has occurred.

Other than the allegations in Lincoln County, she said the May primary campaign has gone well.

"Other than some questions here and there, we haven't had any problems," she said. "It's run fairly smoothly so far."

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.