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Voters wishing to vote absentee can request an absentee ballot from the County Board of Elections and Voter Registration anytime during the calendar year in which the election is to be held. If the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, the board must receive a completed state application no later than 5:00 p.m. four days before the election.
Voters applying in person may apply and vote until 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election.
Voters admitted to a hospital as an emergency patient on the day of election or within a four day period before the election may have a member of their immediate family obtain and complete an absentee ballot application, receive the ballot and deliver it personally to the patient to vote. That family member must personally deliver the voted ballot back to the Board before 7:00 p.m. on election-day.
The voter or member of the voter’s immediate family must request an absentee ballot application from the Board. The request can be made in person, by mail, or by phone.
An immediate family member includes a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparents, grandchildren, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law.
A voter’s authorized representative is also permitted to make the request. Authorized representatives are registered voters who, with a voter’s permission, act for a voter unable to go to the polls because of illness or disability resulting in his confinement in a hospital, sanitarium, nursing home, or place of residence; or a voter unable because of a physical disability to go to his polling place, or because of such disability unable to vote at his polling place due to existing architectural barriers which deny him physical access to the polling place, voting booth or voting apparatus.
A voter’s authorized representative must request the voter’s absentee ballot application in person or by mail only, and must be a registered voter and sign an oath to the effect that the authorized representative fits the statutory definition.
Candidates or members of a candidate’s paid or volunteer campaign staff may NOT serve as authorized representatives for a voter. In addition, a candidate or a member of a candidate’s paid campaign staff, including volunteers reimbursed for time expended on campaign activity, may not request an absentee ballot application for any person unless the person is a member of their immediate family.
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