Q: What are all the ways people can vote?
A: In-person, by mail, and absentee.
Once you are registered, there are several options for voting. See below for information on these options and make sure to check deadlines in your state for each one.
- In-person voting: On election day, November 5th, you can vote in-person. To find your polling location, visit here. The hours that in-person voting is available varies state to state, so make sure to also note the hours for your polling location. [Side note: If you are in line when the polling location closes, STAY IN LINE, you can still cast your ballot as long as you were already in line when it closed!] Some states also allow you to vote in-person BEFORE election day (i.e., early voting), but the window during which this is allowed varies and locations where you can vote early in-person often differ from your regular polling location. Check what early voting options are available in your state here.
- Voting by mail: In some states, ALL registered voters are sent a ballot in the mail, and elections are conducted entirely by mail. People mark and return their ballot by mail (either in a pre-paid envelope provided with their ballot or one on which they need to add postage) or by dropping it off to their local election office or an official ballot drop box. See which states use this system here. In other states, people are permitted to vote by mail by requesting an absentee ballot (see next section).
- Absentee voting: States allow people who cannot or do not want to vote in-person to vote absentee. Some states require people to provide an excuse to vote absentee (such as being out of the country on Election Day, having an illness or a disability, or being a student at an out-of-state college or university), but others do not. See here for details on absentee voting rules in each state and a link to request your absentee ballot. Another great resource for US voters living abroad who need to vote absentee can be found here. Deadlines and rules for requesting, postmarking, and returning your absentee ballot vary state to state (see here for more information).
The U.S. election is ONE MONTH AWAY and deadlines for these various voting options are approaching, so if you haven’t made your voting plan yet, now is the time! Better yet, help a friend, neighbor, or relative navigate these options as well!
Additional Resource: Who can Vote at Home including a spreadsheet on the specs for every state.
