**Important Information Regarding Changes In Absentee Voting**
New York State has recently enacted a law that will change the ability of voters who have applied for an absentee ballot to vote in person on the voting machine. In the past, voters who applied for an absentee ballot could change their minds and vote in person on a voting machine either during early voting or on Election Day. Their absentee ballots, if completed and sent in to the Board of Elections, would then be set aside unopened. With this new law, voters who have applied for an absentee ballot may still go to the polls on Election Day, but they will no longer be able to vote on the machine. If they wish to vote in-person, it will be by affidavit ballot only. If you have any questions about this law, please call the Board of Elections at (607) 274-5522.
Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot
| 1. | Absent from your county on Election Day. |
| 2. | Unable to appear at the polls due to temporary or permanent illness or disability. |
| 3. | Unable to appear because you are the primary care giver of one or more individuals who are ill or physically disabled. |
| 4 | A resident or patient of a Veterans Health Administration Hospital. |
| 5. | Detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction of an offense other than a felony. |
To Request an absentee ballot you may request one in one of the following ways:
- Download an absentee ballot application
- NYS Online Absentee Portal
- NYS Fillable Accessible ballot application
- Accessible Electronic Absentee Ballot Application -
- Voters with a visual impairment that require a ballot with accessible features may apply using the online Accessible Absentee Ballot Application portal. Voters using the accessible absentee ballot system in need of printing services in order to print their ballot can access such services at certain public printing resources, including but not limited to, libraries, print stores, shipping stores, and office supply stores. Voters should contact their local printing resources for details on the printing services offered. In-person voting using an accessible Ballot Marking Device ("BMD") during early voting or on Election Day is still available to voters with a disability who do not want to vote by absentee ballot using the accessible absentee ballot system.
- NYS Fillable Absentee Application Form (paper)
- Federal Absentee Application Request form (Online)
- If you are a member of the Uniformed Services or Merchant Marine on active duty OR an eligible spouse or dependent;
- an activated National Guard member on State Orders;
- A U.S. Citizen living overseas
- A voter temporarily living overseas
- Federal Absentee Ballot Application Form (paper)
How to cast your Absentee Ballot
- Once you receive the ballot, mark the ballot according to your choices for each office following the instructions on the ballot
- Once you have completed marking your ballot, fold it up and place it in the Security Envelope.
- Sign and date the outside of the Security Envelope.
- Seal the Security Envelope.
- All absentee ballots include a pre-paid Return Envelope. Place the Security Envelope in the Return Envelope. The Return Envelope will have the return address of your County Board of Elections on the outside and should have a logo that reads "Official Election Mail".
- Seal the Return Envelope.
How to return your ballot:
- Put it in the mail ensuring it receives a postmark no later than Election day.
- Bring it to your County Board of Elections no later than Election day. Someone else may drop it off for you if the Security Envelope is sealed and signed.
- Bring it to an early voting poll site in your county.
- Bring it to any poll site in your county on Election day.
New York State Absentee information page
