Voting from home has become the most popular and safest way to participate in our democracy thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but every state has different rules for requesting mail ballots. To help Americans navigate this thicket, Daily Kos Elections has put together a comprehensive new guide detailing when and how voters can ask for mail ballots (often known as absentee ballots), and when they must be returned, for every remaining primary election in 2020.
Some states have announced that they will proactively send either applications for mail ballots or mail ballots themselves to voters this year. (Five states—Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington—conduct all elections by mail and automatically send ballots to all voters every election.) We’ve collected this information in the “State Will Send” column, but we strongly encourage you not to wait and to request a ballot yourself.
You can find out exactly how to do so in the section labeled “Ballot Request Deadlines & Instructions.” Each of these columns shows the latest date by which you can request a ballot and includes a link (where available) to instructions for doing so. Requesting a ballot online is the safest and easiest method, but unfortunately, many states don’t offer that option, though all allow you to request one by mail.
Again, we urge you to request a ballot as soon as possible, especially since some of the deadlines are implausibly late: Even if a state technically allows a request by mail to arrive as late as Election Day, for instance, obtaining a ballot at that point might in practice be almost impossible because it takes time to mail out and return it.
Once you’ve obtained your ballot, you’ll need to return it in a timely fashion. The “Ballot Return Deadlines” section will show you exactly when. Most states require mail ballots to be returned by Election Day, though some will continue to accept them after that point so long as they are postmarked (in most cases) by Election Day.
However, due to vagaries in the way mail is handled, it’s possible that your ballot might never receive a postmark with a legible date, putting it at risk of not counting. It’s therefore advisable that you mail in your ballot with sufficient time for it to arrive by Election Day. You will also need to sign your mail ballot return envelope and might also need to place a stamp on it. While some states include postage-paid return envelopes, others do not, so please check carefully.
Alternately, many states provide special drop boxes for mail ballots, like the one pictured at the top of this post. These offer a reliable way to return your ballots, typically as late as Election Day, and no postage is required. You can find locations online, on the websites run by your state or local election authorities.
Some states also impose verification requirements on mail voters. Some require voters to submit IDs while others require ballots to be witnessed or notarized. The specifics for each state can be found under the “Verification Required?” section.
Finally, there’s the question of who is and isn’t allowed to vote by mail. Most states allow any voter to cast a ballot from home, but some require voters to present a specific excuse in order to request a mail ballot. Many of the states that require an excuse have relaxed that requirement in light of the pandemic to allow voters to cite concerns about COVID-19 as an excuse, but some have not. This information is collected in the “Excuse Required?” column.
Please note that the information contained in our guide is subject to change and only applies to the 2020 primaries. If you notice any errors, please let us know. We’ll be producing an additional guide to voting from home for the November general elections in the future.