Nearly 4,300 Pennsylvanians used the state’s new online absentee ballot application during its first week.

According to information from Gov. Tom Wolf, the application at votesPA.com/applyabsentee has been a “resounding success” thus far.

Online voter registration was launched in August 2015, with more than 1.4 million residents using the program to update current registration or apply for new registration. Before last week, absentee ballots could only be requested on paper and through the mail.

The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is one week before the election, or 5 p.m. Oct. 29. The deadline for county election offices to receive voted absentee ballots is three days later, on the Friday before the election. This year that deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 1.

Online applications are forwarded directly to the appropriate county for processing. Absentee voters still must mail or hand-deliver their voted ballot to their county election office.

The Department of State urges voters to apply for their absentee ballot as soon as possible, so they can receive and return it well ahead of the deadline.

The online application is available to all domestic Pennsylvania voters. It will be opened to military and overseas voters in 2020.

Online applications require a PennDOT driver’s license or ID number. The Department of State is planning an update, also in 2020, that will allow applicants without a PennDOT number to use the online system.

In Pennsylvania, absentee ballots may be cast by voters with illnesses or disabilities, voters who will be away from their home municipality on business on Election Day, and Pennsylvania college students attending out-of-state colleges or universities, among others.