VOPP: Table 3: States With Permanent Absentee Voting for All Voters, Voters With Permanent Disabilities and/or Senior Voters

This resource is intended to reflect permanent state law. Many states have made changes to election policies that will only be in effect for the 2020 election. Please see Absentee and Mail Voting Policies in Effect for the 2020 Election for more information.

Our organization does not run elections and cannot provide legal advice. If you are a voter looking for assistance, please contact your local election official. You can find your local election official's website and contact information by using this database from the US Vote Foundation.

This table is part of NCSL’s Voting Outside the Polling Place report.

Some states permit voters to join a permanent absentee voting list, also known as a “single sign-on” list. 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 ballot list and will mail that voter an absentee ballot for each election going forward: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Minnesota, Montana and New Jersey.

The other states listed in the table below put voters on a permanent list, based on certain criteria, usually age or disability. Note that in some cases a note from a physician or other indication of a permanent disability may be required.

An additional four states not included here automatically send absentee voter applications to voters on a permanent list. This differs from the states captured in the table below since voters have to return the application before receiving an absentee ballot.

• Massachusetts (M.G.L. Ch. 54, §86), Missouri (Mo. Rev. Stat. §115.284) and Pennsylvania (25 P.S. § 3146.2(e1)) send permanently disabled voters absentee 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 if the voter resides in a remote area where distance, terrain or other natural conditions deny the voter reasonable access to the polling place; the voter’s permanent residence is in an institution serving the aged or persons with disabilities; or the voter is disabled and has required to be designated as a permanent absentee voter.