Absentee and Early Voting

Updated September 4, 2012

States offer three ways for voters to cast a ballot before Election Day:

1.   Early Voting:  In 32 states and the District of Columbia, any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person during a designated period prior to Election Day. No excuse or justification is required.

2.   Absentee Voting:  All states will mail an absentee ballot to certain voters. The voter may return the ballot by mail or in person. In 21 states, an excuse is required, while 27 states and the District of Columbia permit any qualified voter to vote absentee without offering an excuse. Some states offer a permanent absentee ballot list: once a voter asks to be added to the list, s/he will automatically receive an absentee ballot for all future elections.

3.   Mail Voting:  A ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter (no request or application is necessary), and the state does not use traditional poll sites that offer in-person voting on Election Day. Two states use mail voting.

Overview

The table below details the types of pre-election day voting that are available in each state. Information on the details of each category may be found below the table. 

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, July 2011

(a)    Certain elections may be held entirely by mail. The circumstances under which all-mail elections are permitted vary from state to state.

Early Voting

Two-thirds of the states--32, plus the District of Columbia--offer some sort of early voting.  Early voting allows voters to visit an election official’s office or, in some states, other satellite voting locations, and cast a vote in person without offering an excuse for why the voter is unable to vote on election day.  Satellite voting locations vary by state, and may include other county and state offices (besides the election official’s office), grocery stores, shopping malls, schools, libraries, and other locations. 

The time period for early voting varies from state to state:

• The date on which early voting begins may be as early as 45 days before the election, or as late as the Friday before the election. The average starting time for early voting across all 32 states is 22 days before the election.
• Early voting typically ends just a few days before Election Day:  on the Thursday before the election in three states, the Friday before in nine states, the Saturday before in five states, and the Monday before Election Day in 11 states.
• Early voting periods range in length from four days to 45 days; the average across all 32 states is 19 days.
• At least 12 of the 32 early voting states require that early vote centers be open on at least one Saturday or Sunday during the early voting period. Others give county or local officials the authority to determine the hours for early voting.

No-Excuse Absentee Voting

Absentee voting is conducted by mail-in paper ballot prior to the day of the election.  While all states offer some version of it, there is quite a lot of variation in states’ procedures for absentee voting.  For instance, some states offer "no-excuse" absentee voting, allowing any registered voter to request an absentee without requiring that the voter state a reason for his/her desire to vote absentee.  Other states permit voters to vote absentee only under a limited set of circumstances.

The following 27 states and D.C. offer "no-excuse" absentee voting: 

Source:  National Conference of State Legislatures, July 2011

Permanent Absentee Voting

Some states permit voters to join a permanent absentee voting list. Once a voter opts in, s/he will receive an absentee ballot automatically for all future elections. The states that offer permanent absentee voting to any voter are:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• District of Columbia
• Hawaii
• Montana
• New Jersey
• Utah

At least seven states offer permanent absentee status to a limited number of voters who meet certain criteria:

• Alaska - voters who reside in a remote area where distance, terrain, or other natural conditions deny the voter reasonable access to the polling place
• Delaware - military and overseas voters, and their spouses and dependents; voters who are ill or physically disabled; voters who are otherwise authorized by federal law to vote by absentee ballot
• Kansas - voters with a permanent disability or an illness diagnosed as permanent
• Massachusetts - permanently disabled voters
• Minnesota - voters with a permanent illness or disability
• Missouri - permanently disabled voters
• West Virginia - voters who are permanently and totally disabled and unable to vote at the polls

Mail Voting

Two states -- Oregon and Washington -- conduct all elections by mail.  A ballot is automatically mailed to every registered voter in advance of Election Day, and traditional in-person voting precincts are not available. Learn more about Oregon's vote-by-mail program here.

17 states allow certain elections to be held by mail:

• Alaska - Elections other than general, party primary or municipal
• Arizona - Special districts may conduct elections by mail
• Arkansas - Primary elections in which only one candidate has filed for the position by the filing deadline and there are no other ballot issues to be submitted for consideration
• California - When there are 250 or fewer voters registered to vote in a precinct; and local, special or consolidated elections that meet certain criteria
• Colorado - Elections that are not for recall and do not involve partisan candidates (except for primary elections), and are not held in conjunction with or on the same day as primaries or Congressional vacancy elections
• Florida - Referendum elections at the county, city, school district or special district level; and the governor may call for a mail ballot election after issuing an executive order declaring a state of emergency or impending emergency
• Hawaii - Any federa, state, or county election held other than on the date of a regularly scheduled primary or general election
• Idaho - A precinct which contains no more than 125 registered electors at the last general election may be designated by the board of county commissioners as a mail ballot precinct no later than April 1 in an even-numbered year
• Kansas - Nonpartisan elections at which no candidate is elected, retained or recalled and which are not held on the same date as another election
• Minnesota - Elections conducted by a municipality having fewer than 400 registered voters on June 1 of an election year and not located in a metropolitan county
• Missouri - Nonpartisan issue elections at which no candidate is elected, retained or recalled and in which all qualified voters of one political subdivision are the only voters eligible to vote
• Montana -  Any election other than a regularly scheduled federa, state or county election; a special federal or state election, unless authorized by the legislature; or a regularly scheduled or special election when another election in the political subdivision is taking place at the polls on the same day
• Nebraska - Special ballot measure elections that meet certain criteria, held by a political subdivision
• Nevada - Whenever there were not more than 20 voters registered in a precinct for the last preceding general election
• New Jersey - A municipality with a population of 500 or fewer persons, according to the latest federal decennial census, may conduct all elections by mail
• New Mexico - Any bond election, any election on the imposition of a mill levy or a property tax rate for a specified purpose, or any special election at which no candidates are to be nominated for or elected to office
• North Dakota - A county may conduct any election by mail

Early and Absentee Voting in YOUR State

Are you looking for information on how to vote early or by absentee ballot in an upcoming election?  While NCSL is not involved in holding elections and cannot provide information or advice on how, when or where to vote in your state, we are pleased to provide  this link to a page which will direct you to the answers you need regarding your state's laws:  Can I Vote?

Military Voters

All states permit members of the military who are stationed overseas, their dependents, and other U.S. citizens living abroad to vote by absentee ballot.  For more information, please visit the Overseas Vote Foundation.

For More Information

For more information on absentee voting, contact NCSL staff Jennie Drage Bowser or Wendy Underhill in NCSL's Denver office at 303-364-7700.