Some states permit voters to join a permanent absentee/mail ballot voting list, also known as a “single sign-on” list. Voters who request to be on this list automatically receive an absentee/mail ballot for each election. This option may be offered to all voters, or to a limited number of voters based on certain criteria.
Five states and Washington, D.C., allow any voter to join a permanent absentee/mail ballot list and will mail that voter an absentee ballot for each election going forward: Arizona, District of Columbia, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey and Virginia.
Eleven states permit voters with permanent disabilities to join a permanent list: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine (effective Nov. 1, 2023), Mississippi, New York, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Louisiana, Maine (effective Nov. 1, 2023) and Wisconsin also make this option available to senior voters.
An additional six states not included on the table automatically send absentee/mail ballot applications to voters on a permanent list. This differs from the states in the table below since voters must return the application before receiving an absentee/mail ballot.
- Michigan (MCL 168.759e), Minnesota (Minn. R. 8210.0200) and Pennsylvania (25 P.S. § 3146.2(e1)) permit any voter to join a permanent list to receive absentee/mail ballot applications before each election. Voters on this list in Michigan and Minnesota receive applications before each election; voters in Pennsylvania receive applications at the beginning of the year and, upon submittal, the voter will receive an absentee/mail ballot for all elections that year.
- Massachusetts (M.G.L. Ch. 54, §86) and Missouri (Mo. Rev. Stat. §115.284) send permanently disabled voters absentee/mail ballot applications each election.
- Alaska (Alaska Admin. Code tit. 6, § 25.650) permits the election supervisor to designate a person as a permanent absentee voter and mail that voter an absentee/mail ballot application if the voter lives in a remote area, is a resident of a long-term care facility or is disabled.