An absentee ballot allows eligible voters to participate in an election without appearing in person at their assigned polling place on election day. The mechanism is used by voters who are traveling, serving in the military, living abroad, hospitalized, working, or otherwise unable to attend in person. In some jurisdictions absentee voting requires a stated excuse; in others it is available to any registered voter on request, in which case it is often called no-excuse absentee voting or simply mail voting.
Procedurally, a voter typically applies for an absentee ballot before a statutory deadline, receives the ballot by mail, marks it privately, and returns it by mail, courier, or drop box before a cutoff date. Election authorities verify the voter's identity using signatures, witness attestations, identification numbers, or similar safeguards, then count the ballot alongside in-person votes.
In the United States, absentee voting for overseas civilians and uniformed service members is governed by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986, administered by the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Rules for domestic absentee voting vary by state. Many other democracies offer comparable systems: the United Kingdom has postal voting available on demand since 2001, Germany permits Briefwahl without requiring a reason, and Australia provides postal and pre-poll voting administered by the Australian Electoral Commission.
Absentee ballots are politically significant for several reasons. They can shift the composition of the electorate by lowering participation costs, they are often counted after election-day votes (which can change apparent leads as returns are tallied), and they have become a recurring subject of legal and partisan dispute over signature matching, ballot harvesting rules, postmark deadlines, and drop-box access. Researchers distinguish absentee voting from broader categories such as early voting (in-person voting before election day) and all-mail elections, in which every registered voter automatically receives a ballot.
Example
During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, roughly 65 million voters cast absentee or mail ballots amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a sharp increase over 2016 levels reported by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Frequently asked questions
Early voting refers to casting a ballot in person before election day at an official polling site. Absentee ballots are submitted remotely, usually by mail or drop box, without the voter appearing in person.
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