Four Methods:Requesting a Ballot in the USRequesting a Ballot in the MilitarySubmitting Your BallotAbsentee Voting in Other CountriesCommunity Q&A
Citizens of the United States who are unable to vote in person on election day can usually submit and absentee vote. There are specific steps required for requesting and submitting an absentee ballot, and special conditions may apply if you are a member of the US military. Other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, also have their own versions of absentee voting. Here’s what you need to know about how the process works.
Steps
Method 1
Requesting a Ballot in the US
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1
Understand your state’s election laws. Every state has its own set of laws and regulations governing the process of absentee voting. In many states, voters can vote by absentee ballot without excuse. In others, voters must provide a valid reason why they cannot vote on election day.[1]
- As of 2012, 27 states and Washington, D.C. offer “no-excuse absentee voting.” Voters in these states can request an absentee ballot without stating a reason why they wish to vote using that method.
- No-excuse absentee voting states include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
- Two states conduct all elections by mail. These states are Oregon and Washington.
- Twenty-one states allow absentee voting only with a valid excuse. Valid excuses usually include military service, being out of the country on election day, or being out of the state on election day.
- States that only offer absentee voting with a valid excuse include Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
- Some states also offer permanent absentee voting. Once a voter joins a permanent absentee voting list, he or she receives an absentee ballot during each election. Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, and Utah offer this. Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, and West Virginia also offer this as long as certain criteria are met.
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2
Contact your local election board. Most counties have election boards or departments, and this is usually the easiest and most sensible place to request a ballot from since local election issues may also be included on the ballot.
- You can usually request an absentee ballot from a local election department in person, by mail, or by phone. In stricter counties and municipalities, you may need to make the request in person or fill out the absentee ballot at the election board’s office.
- Look up the contact information for your local election department by searching for the local department’s website[2] or by accessing your state government’s website and looking for a link to your local government’s website. You should also be able to locate the information by looking in a phone book.
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3
Contact your state election department. If you cannot contact a local elections department, contact your state’s Secretary of State or Director of Elections.
- This contact information can be found online.[3] You may also be able to look it up in a phone book or other directory.
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4
If you are currently living outside the US, contact your state election department or FVAP. As long as you are a US citizen and a registered voter, you should be able to request an absentee ballot if you will be residing outside of the country during the time of the election. Rather than going to your local elections department, however, you should contact your state election department or FVAP.
- Get in touch with your state election department in the same manner you would use if requesting a ballot within the US. Look up the department’s contact information online or via a government directory.
- The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) is accessible to US citizens regardless of present location. Go to the FVAP website[4] or call the FVAP international hotline[5] to begin your Federal Postcard Application. Follow the instructions provided to request the ballot and submit it. It is recommended that overseas US citizens complete FPCAs every January.
Method 2
Requesting a Ballot in the Military
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1
Understand the eligibility requirements.[6] If you are stationed outside of your state or outside of the country, you can still vote in all local, state, and federal elections as long as you are a US citizen, a minimum of 18 years old, and registered to vote. This is true in all states.
- Eligible spouses and children of military members can also vote as long as they are US citizens who are at least 18 years old. If a child is a US citizen but has never resided in the country, many states will allow that child to claim a parent’s state or residence as his or her own.
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2
Know your legal voting residence. Typically, your legal voting residence is the state in which you lived prior to enlisting.
- You may no longer have a formal connection to your past residence, but if you have not claimed a new place of residence since, that location will be the one you must use.
- You can claim a new legal voting residence as long as you are physically present at that location and can show intent to return there as your primary place of living outside of the military.
- You can change your legal residence every time you change your permanent duty station, or you can keep the same legal residence without changing it.
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3
Use FVAP. Regardless of your legal voting residence, the easiest, most streamlined way to request an absentee ballot is by contacting the Federal Voting Assistance Program and requesting a Federal Postcard Application.[7]
- An online version of the FPCA is also available.
Method 3
Submitting Your Ballot
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1
Submit the ballot in person. If you are in-state when you complete your absentee ballot, you can usually deliver the ballot in person by going to the office of your local elections board.
- Find the location of your local elections board by looking in your phone book or by tracking the information down online.
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2
Mail in your absentee ballot. Your absentee ballot should be mailed directly to your local elections department, regardless of whether you requested a ballot from the local department, state department, or FVAP.
- Locate the address of your local elections board using a phone book or other directory. The information can also be found online.
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3
Send your absentee ballot by fax. Many states permit you to send your absentee ballot by fax. While all states allow you to send the materials by mail, however, not all allow you to send the information by fax.
- Verify that your state and local election departments allow you to send the ballot by fax by accessing the department websites or by contacting the departments by phone.
- Note that your local election officials may need to contact you for further verification, information, or clarification after you fax the ballot to them.
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4
Use email to submit your absentee ballot. While it is not as common, some states and local governments allow you to submit absentee ballots by email. This option is usually available only if the ballot itself is on electronic form.
- If you received an electronic ballot, follow the instructions on the ballot concerning how to turn the ballot back in. If no instructions are provided, contact the elections department you received the ballot from in order to find out specific details.
Method 4
Absentee Voting in Other Countries
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1
Know how to vote by absentee ballot as a Canadian citizen.[8] Canadian citizens can vote absentee by requesting a special ballot.
- Special ballots can be obtained by Canadian electors temporarily living away from their electoral districts, Canadian electors who cannot or do not wish to go to an official polling place, Canadian citizens temporarily living outside of Canada, Canadian Forces electors, and incarcerated electors.
- The elector must have a civic address of ordinary residence in Canada.
- Register to vote by special ballot by 6:00 pm on the Tuesday before polling day.
- Realize that once an application to vote by special ballot is approved, that is the only way that you can vote for that election. You may not vote at an official polling place.
- Contact the Elections Canada office in Ottawa to request your special ballot kit. You can also apply for this kit on the Elections Canada website.[9]
- A special ballot voting kit includes a blank ballot, an unmarked inner envelop, an outer envelop identifying the elector and his or her electoral district, a return envelop, and an instruction flyer.
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2
Understand how to vote by absentee as a British citizen.[10] As long as you are a British citizen who has registered to vote within the past 15 years, you are able to register and vote in Parliamentary elections as an overseas voter.
- If you were too young to register when you left the UK, you can still register and vote as an overseas voter as long as you are a citizen of the UK and as long as your guardian was registered to vote in the UK within the past 15 years.
- Register as an overseas voter by contacting your local electoral office or by filling out the application online.
- Overseas voters can receive an early (absentee) ballot by mail and must submit the ballot by mail to their local electoral office. Your local electoral office can be found by submitting your post code of your last registered UK address online.[11]
- Alternatively, instead of requesting and filling out a paper ballot, you can also vote by proxy. A proxy is authorized to vote on your behalf on the day of the election.[12]
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3
Discover the rules about absentee voting in Australia.[13] An Australian citizen who cannot vote in person at their local voting center on election day can vote early or on election day depending on his or her circumstances.
- An absent vote is cast by an elector who is out of his or her home division yet within his or her home state or territory on election day.
- An overseas vote is cast an an overseas voting center, such as an Australian embassy or mission, or it can be cast by applying for a specific postal vote.
- You can vote early by mail or in person if, on election day, you will be outside of your electorate where you are enrolled to vote, more than 8 km (5 miles) away from a polling place, travelling, unable to leave your workplace, seriously ill, in a hospital, have certain religious beliefs that prevent you from going to a polling place, in prison, a silent elector, or have reasonable fear for your safety.
- Mobile polling votes are polling teams that travel to various places before and on election day. These places are usually set up in locations where the citizens there would be unable to leave to vote, including hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and remote areas.
