Absentee/mail-in voting
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Absentee/mail-in voting is voting that does not happen in person on Election Day but instead occurs another way (generally by mail). All states allow for some form of absentee/mail-in balloting. Some states require voters to provide a valid excuse to vote absentee/by mail, while others allow any eligible voter to cast an absentee/mail-in ballot.[1][2]
Absentee/mail-in voting procedures
Background
Every state provides for some method whereby voters can cast ballots without visiting a physical polling place. The terms absentee voting, voting by mail, all-mall voting, or voting from home are sometimes used to describe these methods, which can be divided into two categories: automatic mail-in ballot systems and request-required mail-in ballot systems.
Automatic mail-in ballot systems
Automatic mail-in ballot systems mandate that all eligible voters receive either a ballot or ballot application by default. These are sometimes referred to as all-mail voting systems. Access to mail-in voting is not restricted to voters meeting certain eligibility criteria.
- Automatic mail-in ballots: Officials automatically transmit mail-in ballots to all eligible voters. Voters may return these ballots by mail or by using designated deposit sites. Limited in-person voting is generally available, although the number of polling sites and terms of accessibility vary from state to state.
- Automatic mail-in ballot applications: Officials automatically transmit mail-in ballot applications to all eligible voters. A voter must in turn submit a completed application in order to receive a ballot. The voter then returns the completed ballot by mail or by using designated deposit sites. In-person voting is widely available, but it is not necessarily the dominant means by voters cast their ballots.
Request-required mail-in ballot systems
Request-required mail-in ballot systems require that eligible voters initiate the process for receiving, and casting, mail-in ballots. These have traditionally been described as absentee voting systems. Access to mail-in voting may be restricted to voters meeting certain eligibility criteria.
- No excuse required: Any voter may request a mail-in ballot. Generally, a voter must first submit an application in order to receive a ballot. The voter may then return the completed ballot by mail or by using a designated deposit site. In-person voting is dominant.
- Excuse required: A voter must meet eligibility criteria in order to qualify for a mail-in ballot. Generally, a voter must first submit an application in order to receive a ballot. The voter may then return the completed ballot by mail or by using a designated deposit site. In-person voting is dominant.
Absentee/mail-in voting procedures by state
The table below summarizes existing statutory absentee/mail-in voting procedures in the states.
| Absentee/mail-in voting procedures by state | ||
|---|---|---|
| State | Absentee/mail-in voting type | Description |
| Alabama | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Alaska | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Arizona | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Arkansas | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| California | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Colorado | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Connecticut | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Delaware | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Florida | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Georgia | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Hawaii | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Idaho | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Illinois | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Indiana | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Iowa | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Kansas | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Kentucky | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Louisiana | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Maine | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Maryland | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Massachusetts | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Michigan | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Minnesota | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Mississippi | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Missouri | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Montana | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Nebraska | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Nevada | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| New Hampshire | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| New Jersey | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| New Mexico | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| New York | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| North Carolina | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| North Dakota | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Ohio | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Oklahoma | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Oregon | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Pennsylvania | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Rhode Island | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| South Carolina | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| South Dakota | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Tennessee | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Texas | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Utah | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Vermont | Automatic mail-in voting (general elections only) | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| Virginia | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Washington | Automatic mail-in voting | Every voter receives a mail-in ballot by default. |
| West Virginia | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | Excuse required. |
| Wisconsin | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
| Wyoming | Request-required absentee/mail-in voting | No excuse required. |
Support and opposition
The following quotes briefly summarize arguments for and against no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting. See our page, Arguments for and against no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting, for detailed support and opposition arguments from a variety of sources.
| Arguments for and against no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | Opposition | ||||||
| "Voting absentee or by mail is a safe, trusted and age-old practice. Moreover, expanded access to absentee voting comports with conservative principles, which helps explain why a number of conservative state policymakers have advanced proposals to achieve it. Finally, and critically, policymakers should take note that polling data indicate very clearly that the public strongly favors expanded access to absentee voting and that its results are partisan-neutral." -Kevin Kosar, Marc Hyden and Steven Greenhut, R Street (2020)[3] |
"A big challenge for states ramping up their mailed ballots is how to count them in a timely manner. Mailed ballots tend to come in waves, and many jurisdictions allowed ballots to be postmarked by Election Day. So you could have a situation where tallies announced by in-person voting and ballots returned before the deadline show one candidate in the lead, Morley, with Florida State University, said. 'But you still have tens of thousands of uncounted ballots, and you are setting yourself up to potentially say: ‘Now that we finished counting the votes, actually the other candidate is the winner.’' -Amber Phillips, staff writer, The Washington Post (2020)[4]
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Absentee/mail-in voting legislation
The table below lists bills related to same-day voter registration introduced during, or carried over to each state's regular legislative session this year. The following information is included for each bill:
- State
- Bill number
- Official name or caption
- Most recent action date
- Legislative status
- Topics dealt with by the bill
Bills are organized alphabetically, first by state and then by bill number. The table displays up to 100 results by default. To view additional results, use the arrows in the upper-right corner of the table. For more information about a particular bill, simply click the bill number. This will open a separate page with additional information.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
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The Ballot Bulletin
The Ballot Bulletin is a weekly email that delivers the latest updates on election policy. The Ballot Bulletin tracks developments in election policy around the country, including legislative activity, big-picture trends, and recent news. Each email contains in-depth data from our Election Administration Legislation Tracker. You'll also be able to track relevant legislation, with links to and summaries of the bills themselves.
Recent issues
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Absentee and Early Voting," July 12, 2022
- ↑ We use the term "absentee/mail-in voting" to describe systems in which requests or applications are required. We use the term "all-mail voting" to denote systems where the ballots themselves are sent automatically to all voters. We use the hyphenate term for absentee voting because some states use “mail voting” (or a similar alternative) to describe what has traditionally been called "absentee voting."
- ↑ R Street, "The Conservative Case for Expanding Access to Absentee Ballots," June 2020
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Examining the arguments against voting by mail: Does it really lead to fraud or benefit only Democrats?," May 20, 2020
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