MONTPELIER — The presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney is complaining some Vermont military personnel serving overseas might not be able to get their absentee ballots in time to vote.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, Romney’s veterans affairs adviser Anthony Principi says delays by Condos’ office caused 53 towns to miss the 45-day deadline needed to ensure veterans receive their absentee ballots and can return them by Election Day.

Condos says the recount in a primary race delayed the printing of the November ballots but that town clerks were sent electronic copies of the ballots before Saturday’s deadline and the vast majority of veterans should have been able to receive them on time.

Condos, a Democrat, calls the issue “a show” by the Romney campaign.