Rules Committee Election Report

STATE PROCEDURES FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS
• This year we know that in some states vote totals on election night might not give an accurate picture
of who will win when all the votes are counted.
• States have different rules for when election officials have to receive ballots.
o About half of states requires absentee ballots to be received by Election Day, and about half allow
them to be received later if they are postmarked by Election Day.
• It can take time to process absentee ballots.
o Election officials have to verify that the ballot was filled out by and eligible voter – and often
that means manually comparing signatures on the ballot envelope to voter registration signatures
on file.
o Some states start this process well before Election Day as ballots come in, but other states have
rules that prevent officials from beginning to process ballots until Election Day or the day before.
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