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With six days until Election Day, officials are reminding voters to check their polling place and plan on voting during off-peak hours.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections had issued 48,690 absentee ballots by Tuesday afternoon, shortly before the deadline for requesting absentee ballots by mail or fax.

The elections board had more than 1,000 people walk in to its Rockville headquarters Monday, said Marjorie Roher, a county elections board spokeswoman.

"I think it's safe to say we'll be over 50,000 absentee ballots," Roher said.

By contrast, elections officials counted 35,156 absentee ballots in the 2004 presidential election.

Voters can still request absentee ballots in person at the county elections board, at 751 Twinbrook Parkway in Rockville, through 8 p.m. on Election Day, although ballots must be postmarked no later than Nov. 4 to be counted.

The board will be open 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

County voters will cast a ballot with elections for president, Congress, three seats on the county school board and several judges.

They also will decide statewide ballot questions on whether to approve constitutional amendments legalizing slot machine gambling and early voting.

Two county charter questions ask whether to require a vote of nine County Council members to approve county budget growth that exceeds inflation and whether to strike sections of the charter dealing with landfills, sewage sludge and C&P Telephone that the county Charter Review Commission has deemed ineffective.

This year, Maryland's rolls grew to more than 3.4 million registered voters, including more than 550,000 in Montgomery County, the state's most populous jurisdiction.

State elections administrator Linda H. Lamone said last week that she expects 85 percent voter turnout on Election Day.

That would top a 1992 peak for statewide turnout of 81 percent.

Montgomery County officials expect 85 percent turnout in the county. During presidential elections, the county's turnout averages 80 percent.

Montgomery County will have 243 polling places equipped with more than 3,000 voting machines — one for every 185 voters. The county has met its goal of hiring 3,497 elections judges and has a pool of standby judges, Roher said.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

"We are going to have lines in the polling places," Roher said. "We're going to have potentially record turnout."

Officials are offering these tips for Election Day:

Vote during non-peak hours –10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – to avoid delays.

Find your correct polling place at www.elections.state.md.us or by calling the county elections board at 240-777-8683 or the state elections board at 1-800-222-VOTE.

Know the ballot. View a sample ballot by going to www.montgomerycountymd.gov, clicking "Departments" and then "Elections". Mark the ballot and bring it to the polls.

Provisional ballot— for voters whose eligibility is in question on Election Day— must be cast in the election district or ward in which the voter resides.