Absentee Voting Information
Connecticut law allows you to receive an absentee ballot if, in your judgment, an absence from your town on Election Day prevents you from appearing at your polling place, or you are prevented from appearing at your assigned polling place on Election Day because of sickness or physical disability (not necessarily your sickness or disability), active service in the Military, religious tenets forbid secular activity on the day of the election, duties as an election official at a polling place other than your own during all of the hours of voting. To receive your absentee ballot please complete and sign an application and return it to your Town Clerk. Locate your local Town Clerk here.
Visit myvote.ct.gov/getmyab to request your online Absentee Ballot.
Learn everything you need to know about the absentee ballot process by watching a short video (click image to play video):
(English)
(Español)
Can I vote absentee?
Connecticut has strict laws regarding who can vote absentee.
- Are you an active member of the armed forces of the United States?
- Will you be out of town on Election Day?
- Does sickness prevent you from voting in person on Election Day?
- Do your religious beliefs prevent you from performing secular activities like voting on Election Day?
- Will you be performing duties as an election official at a polling place other than your own on Election Day?
- Does a physical disability prevent you from voting in person on election day?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you are eligible to vote absentee.
For Absentee Ballot Eligibility Updates, click here.
Who can download an application for absentee ballot?
An application for absentee ballot may be downloaded by an individual for:
- The individual's own use
- The use of a member of the individual's immediate family
- The use of a designee of the applicant
Note: Due to technical limitations on mobile devices, the absentee ballot application must be downloaded to the device and reviewed in a PDF viewer app to be read in ADA-compliant form or by assistive technologies. Mobile browsers do not have the same full reading capabilities as desktop/laptop browsers.
Note: Any person who will distribute five (5) or more absentee ballot applications to persons other than the individual's immediate family must register with and obtain forms from the Town Clerk of the municipality where such forms will be distributed before distributing such forms. Any person who distributes absentee ballot applications shall maintain a list of the names and addresses of prospective absentee ballot applicants who receive such applications and shall file such list with the town clerk prior to the date of the primary, election or referendum for which the applications were so distributed. Any person who distributes absentee ballot applications and receives an executed application shall forthwith file the application with the town clerk.
How do I vote absentee?
For an emergency ballot within 6 days of an election, please use the following Emergency Application for Absentee Ballot:
For a referendum with less than 3 weeks’ notice, please use the following Application for Absentee Ballot for Referendum Authorized to Be Held with Less Than 3 Weeks’ Notice (please note these ballots cannot be mailed to you):
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English Application for Referendum with less than 3 weeks’ notice
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Spanish Application for Referendum with less than 3 weeks’ notice
If you have a permanent disability, you may be eligible to apply for a permanent absentee ballot. Contact your local Town Clerk for details.
What happens after I send in my application?
- Your Town Clerk will process your application.
- The process and procedures for those who need accommodations for print disabilities are as follows:
- The absentee ballot application has been updated to make it accessible by screen readers and includes a check box to indicate that the voter requires a ballot emailed to them because of a print disability.
- Once the town clerk receives this application with the specified box checked off, they will send out a ballot packet – containing the outer envelope and inner envelope - WITHOUT a paper ballot, directly to the voter.
- The town clerk will notify the Office of the Secretary of the State that the voter needs an accessible ballot and will provide the voter’s email address.
- The Office of the Secretary of the State will email an accessible ballot directly to the voter.
- The voter will be able to read and fill out the ballot using their screen reader, print it out, and return it in the ballot packet that was sent to by the town clerk.
- The voter MUST sign the inner envelope, and local election officials have been instructed to approve the inner envelopes that are signed, even if the signature is not in the correct spot.
- Those ballots will be hand counted, as they will be printed on normal paper with normal ink and cannot be fed into the tabulator.
- An absentee ballot will be mailed to you beginning:
- 31 days before a general election
- 21 days before a primary
- 19 days before a referendum
- Or if your application is received after the above dates, your ballot will be mailed to you as soon as your application is processed.
- Complete the ballot, carefully following the instructions that are included and return it by mail or in person.
- Only complete absentee ballots received before the close of polls on the day of the election will be counted.