Absentee Ballots

Definition

Historically, absentee ballots have been, simply, ballots cast by voters who are not able to vote in regular polling places due to travel or to some circumstance that makes it difficult for them to come to the polls. This definition is still true but incomplete. A number of states have adopted no-excuse absentee balloting, which allows any voter to vote by absentee ballot. In some states with no-excuse absentee voting, so-called “early voting” is really just the period during which voters can request and submit an absentee ballot. Because most absentee ballots are mailed to the election office, voter turnout campaigns sometimes call no-excuse absentee balloting “vote by mail,” even if the state does not have a formal vote by mail system.