How does mail and absentee voting work?

#Three groups of states

The Supreme Court noted in 2026 that every state lets at least some residents vote absentee, a practice that began when some states let soldiers vote from afar during the Civil War. Beyond that, the rules divide states into three groups.

• No excuse needed: 29 states, as of July 17, 2026. Any voter may ask for an absentee ballot.
• All-mail elections: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington, plus DC, as of August 7, 2026.
• Excuse required: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, as of June 3, 2026. All of them accept being away from your home county or having an illness or disability, and many accept others, such as jury service or work schedules.

#How a returned ballot is checked and when it must arrive

Verification differs too. As of October 26, 2026, 32 states and Puerto Rico compared the signature on a returned ballot with one on file. Nine states, DC and the Virgin Islands required a signed envelope with no signature comparison. Six states asked for ID or Social Security number information on the envelope, and Arkansas and North Carolina required a copy of an ID. Some states appear in more than one of those groups.

Deadlines split as well. As of September 25, 2026, 35 states required mailed ballots to arrive by Election Day. Another 15 states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands accepted later arrivals if the ballot was postmarked in time, with grace periods that differed by state.

#Military and overseas voters: UOCAVA

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA) covers service members and merchant mariners on active duty away from home, their eligible family members, and US citizens living abroad. Every state must let them register and vote absentee in federal general, special, primary and runoff elections. The law treats DC and the territories as states.

A 2009 amendment, the MOVE Act, added the 45-day rule: a state must send a requested ballot at least 45 days before a federal election if the request arrived by then. A state can ask for a waiver for undue hardship, one election at a time. Two federal forms back this up. The Federal Post Card Application registers a voter and requests a ballot together, and the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot is an emergency backup if the state’s ballot does not arrive. Most states extend these options to state and local races.

#A worked example: a 5-day ballot window

Mississippi counts absentee ballots “postmarked on or before the date of the election” if they arrive within 5 business days after it. In 2024 the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party and several individuals sued, and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi filed a similar suit. They argued that the federal laws setting Election Day also set a deadline for receiving ballots. A federal appeals court agreed.

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court reversed in Watson v. Republican National Committee. Five justices joined the opinion and four dissented. The Court held that the federal election-day laws do not stop Mississippi from counting those ballots, and it read UOCAVA to show that federal law sets when ballots must be cast while state law governs when they must be received. It called the question narrow. The challengers did not contest absentee voting generally or early voting, and the Court did not consider the scope of Congress’s power over federal elections.

#Federal action in 2026

Executive Order 14399, signed March 31, 2026, directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile state lists of confirmed citizens and told the Postal Service to start a rulemaking on mailed ballots. On August 24, the Supreme Court stayed an injunction that a group of states had won against the order, saying the states likely lacked standing because the order’s text was an internal directive. Three justices dissented. The Court added that its ruling did not mean any step taken to carry out the order would be lawful.

The Postal Service then published a final rule, effective August 21, under which noncompliant ballot mailings “will not be accepted.” On September 4, a federal district court blocked key parts of that rule for elections on or before November 3, 2026. On September 14, the Supreme Court denied a stay of that order, with two justices dissenting. This account reflects the records through that date. Later rulings may change it, and the injunction’s terms do not reach later elections.