Act now to cast an absentee ballot in November election

Take action NOW if you need to vote absentee in Kentucky

If you are registered to vote in Kentucky but won’t be able to get to your polling location on Tuesday, November 4, you need to act NOW to cast an absentee vote, either in person or by mail, in the upcoming election. We recommend in-person if you can manage that.

Kentucky law narrowly defines who is able to vote using a mail-in absentee ballot. To cast an absentee vote in Kentucky you must be:

• Advanced in age, disabled, or ill;
• Military personnel, their dependents or overseas citizens;
• A student who temporarily resides outside the county where they are registered;
• A voter who temporarily resides outside of Kentucky and who maintains eligibility to vote in Kentucky;
• A person who is incarcerated, but not yet convicted of a crime; or
• Employed outside of the county for all of the hours the polling place is open (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

These same groups of people also are permitted to their cast their votes early by visiting the county clerk’s office in the county where they are registered to vote. It is then possible to cast an “in-person absentee vote” during business hours prior to election day.

If you qualify and you need a mail-in absentee ballot, call your county clerk’s office TODAY to request an absentee ballot application. An absentee ballot application may be requested by the eligible voter, or by his or her spouse, parents or children. The deadline to request an absentee ballot application from your county clerk is next Tuesday, October 28.

But you should act today.

Here’s why you need to act fast: After you call to put in your request, the county clerk in your home county will mail you an absentee ballot application. This is just an application, not a ballot. You must sign and date this application and mail or hand deliver it back to the county clerk. Then the county clerk will mail you an absentee ballot. Then completed ballot must be mailed back to the clerk’s office. It cannot be hand delivered. And the clerk’s office must receive it by November 4.

For some voters, your best option may be to go directly to the county clerk’s office in the county where you are registered to vote and ask to vote early by casting an “in-person absentee ballot.”

However, please note that you must fall into one of the categories listed above to qualify for early voting or mail-in absentee voting. In Kentucky, it is not enough to know that you will be away from home on Election Day. You must be ill, old, disabled, employed out of the county, temporarily live out of the county, be a student, be a member of the military, or be incarcerated but not convicted.

It’s not an easy process to cast an absentee or early vote in Kentucky. Thank you for sharing this information with your friends, family and neighbors. Together we can make sure that every voice is heard this November.