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

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.