The concept of voting “absentee” first came about during the Civil War as a way for soldiers to cast ballots back in their home states. The idea of allowing military voters to cast a ballot “in absentia” is still one of the driving factors for states allowing absentee ballots. All states, by federal law, are required to send absentee/mailed ballots to military and overseas voters for federal elections (see the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)). Aside from military and overseas voters, 16 states only permit certain voters to request an absentee ballot by mail when they have an “excuse” for not being able to vote at the polls on Election Day. More details on these states can be found in the table below. Note, however, that many states that require an excuse to obtain an absentee ballot do provide early voting opportunities for voters to cast a ballot in-person before Election Day. More than two-thirds of the states have “no-excuse absentee” voting, which means any voter can request a mail ballot without providing an excuse, and a few send all voters ballots by mail. https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx I am providing this thread with link in an effort to keep posters from looking less than knowledgeable on the subject of mail-in voting. Your welcome...
I have voted absentee twice because of a business trip and both times at the county courthouse where I signed an affidavit, showed my ID, filled my ballot and sealed in an envelope and handed it to the election official.
Related, this article details why some of the mailed-in ballots don't count so that people avoid these errors: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-mail-in-ballot-rejected-voting-counts/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a An interesting piece of info from this article: blacks and latinos seem to have more trouble with mail-in voting, with their ballots being rejected twice as often as white's, so Trump's campaign against mail-in voting may backfire on him at least in this aspect, given that blacks and latinos are likely to vote for Biden in bigger proportions than whites so mail-in voting would invalidate more of their votes. I'm aware that this is just one aspect of the equation but I thought it was an interesting one.
Go to your local gun store and ask them to put up a "get out the vote" sign. Some gun stores have applied to be voter registration locations. It's free and easy to do in some parts of the country. Absentee ballots may not get counted. Best to go in person if at all possible
Your link goes to NCSL...the President of which is....Robin J. Vos (born July 5, 1968 an American Republican politician and the 79th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly. The same one who made sure Wisconsinites had go out and stand in long lines to vote in public during a pandemic.
