Election Information

Connecticut has strict laws regarding who can vote absentee. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you are eligible to vote by absentee ballot.

• Are you an active member of the armed forces of the United States?
• Will you be out of town on Election Day?
• Does illness 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?
• Do you have a physical disability that prevents you from voting in person on Election Day?

Electors with permanent disabilities eligible for permanent AB status MUST submit with their application a doctor's certificate (on their letterhead) stating they have a permanent disability and are unable to appear in person at their polling place. Per State regulation, this must be submitted annually.

1. Register to Vote 

You must be registered to vote for your absentee ballot application to be honored. You can obtain Voter Registration Applications by contacting the Registrars of Voters Office at (860) 647-3025, or via the Secretary of the States website:

All completed forms should be mailed to:
Registrars of Voters, Ab
479 Main Street, PO Box 191, 
Manchester, CT  06045-0191

You may confirm your voter registration status online or by contacting the Registrar’s Office. 

2. Obtain an Application to vote by Absentee Ballot

Absentee Ballot applications are available to print and fill out below. It is also available in Spanish.

Absentee Ballot Applications:

• Absentee Ballot Application(PDF, 746KB)
  
  
• Absentee Ballot Application submitted online through Secretary of State.
  
  
• Uniformed Service members, their families, and citizens residing outside the U.S.

3. Fill Out & Submit Your Application 

If a voter would like to vote by absentee ballot instead of voting at the polls:

• Submit application to Town Clerk's Office ASAP by official election drop box, mail or in person. (submit completed signed application)
• If you choose to mail-in your application, please allow adequate time for two-way mail service. If you’re unable to allow for adequate mail time, we encourage you to leave your application in the secure drop box.
• Submit application using the Secretary of State's online submission.
• E-mail completed application to start process. (original app must still be received by the office before Election Day for the vote to count.)
• Once the application is received, Town Clerk staff will proceed to process and return the final packet by mail beginning July 19^th & Oct. 7^th if all requirements are met.  

Any absentee ballot applications received for a previous election cannot be used again for the November election. A new application must be completed and submitted to the Town Clerk's Office. 

On July 19th for the Primary and October 7^th for the election, the ballots become available to be issued. The Town Clerk’s office will begin mailing out the actual ballots beginning July 19th and October 7^th to voters who requested an absentee ballot by application. 

Once the ballot is received by the voter, we ask that voters carefully read and follow the instructions including: 

• Filling in your choice on the ballot
• Inserting the voted ballot into, signing and sealing the inner B envelope 
• Inserting the inner B envelope into the return C envelope

The voter must return the voted ballot package to the Town Clerk’s office ASAP. Mail to the office or place in the white official ballot drop box. Voted ballots received after Election Day will not be counted. If you choose to mail-in your ballot, please allow adequate time for two-way mail service. If you’re unable to allow for adequate mail time, we encourage you to leave your ballot in the secure drop box.

Returning the Absentee Ballot

Once the voter fills out their ballot, carefully following all of the included directions, they can return the ballot by mail, drop box or in person to the Town Clerk’s office. The secure drop boxes will be located outside of the Town Hall and the Police Station.

All ballots must be received by the close of polls, 8:00 p.m. on Election Day

When the Town Clerk receives the ballot, they check that the serial number and barcode match the voter who returned the ballot, and then they secure the absentee ballot, still sealed in its envelope, until Election Day.

For absentee ballots that are received prior to Election Day, the Town Clerks pre-mark the Election Day checklist to indicate that the voter returned an absentee ballot. Voters who return their absentee ballot prior to Election Day will not be allowed to vote in a polling place on Election Day.

If an absentee ballot arrives on Election Day, it is held until after 8:00pm when the absentee ballot is compared to the official Election Day checklist. If the voter who returned the absentee ballot on Election Day has voted in person in a polling place, the absentee ballot is not opened and is rejected. This procedure ensures that no voter can vote twice, even by mistake.

When the polls close on Election Day, the Town Clerks feed the ballots into the tabulators to be counted. Each town is able to report their results in separate totals for absentee ballots and for polling places.

If you are returning an un-voted ballot: Any elector who has returned an absentee ballot to the Town Clerk and who finds such elector is able to vote in-person shall proceed before five o'clock PM on the last day before the election to the Town Clerk Office and request the ballot to be withdrawn. (See Connecticut General Statue "Sec. 9-159o. attached for the remainder of this process). 

As soon as we receive a ballot, the name of the voter on the outer envelope is entered into the "Connecticut Voter Registration System." When done, the unopened ballot envelope is secured in the Town Clerk Vault. It stays secured until Election Day. All the ballots are sorted by voting district and turned over to the Registrars of Voters. It is their responsibility to oversee the counting of the ballots by appointed ballot counters. The ballot envelope consists of:

1. An outer envelope that has a serial number or bar code and the name and address of the voter. Once opened the "Outer Envelopes" are placed in a large envelope that when filled is secured and closed with non-removable tape.
2. When that is done, the "Inner Envelope" that the voter has signed goes through the same process.
3. When that is done, the Vote Counters now have a ballot only with no name of the voter and begin counting the ballot. The ballots then pass through the voting machine like the one at the polling place. 
4. After the ballots have been counted, they then are secured in a lockable bag which is then returned to the Town Clerk Vault.

VOTING BY ABSENTEE BALLOT HAS PRIVACY PROTECTIONS SIMILAR TO VOTING BY MACHINE.

YOUR NAME WILL NOT BE CONNECTED TO YOUR VOTE WHEN IT IS TALLIED!

In order to be counted, ballots must be received by the close of the polls on Election Day.

Pending a recount, these ballots are kept secured in the vault for twenty-two months or six months for a "Town Election." In the event of a recount or contested election, all ballots received by the close of the polls on Election Day are counted.