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Absentee Voting

Apply for an Absentee Ballot

Absentee FAQs

Absentee Label Files

Absentee Voting for the Armed Forces or Overseas Citizens

Absentee Deadlines

Absentee Voting for the Armed Forces or Overseas Citizens

1. Active duty members of the organized militia
2. Who may vote an Armed Services absentee ballot?
3. What is the voting residence of a service member?
4. How do I apply for an armed services absentee ballot?
5. Who qualifies as Uniformed or Overseas Citizens?
6. Uniformed Services Personnel
7. May I fax my request for an absentee ballot?
8. May I fax my ballot?
9. What is the deadline to request an absentee ballot?
10. What is the deadline to return an absentee ballot?

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• Active duty members of the organized militia

  If you are on active duty with Ohio's organized militia, your written application must contain all the information required of "regular" absentee voters (above) and either the address to which the ballot is to be mailed or the fax number to which it is to be faxed.

  Alternatively, an absentee application may be submitted on your behalf by one of the following relatives: your spouse, father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandfather, grandmother, brother or sister of the whole blood or half blood, son, daughter, adopting parent, adopted child, stepparent, stepchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece. Your relative must use the application prescribed by the Secretary of State (Form 11-C) and provided by the board of elections.

  This application, which must be signed and sworn to by your relative (the applicant), must contain all the following information:

  1. Your full name
  2. A statement that you are a qualified elector in the county
  3. The address at which you are registered to vote
  4. Your date of birth
  5. One of the following
  1. Your driver's license number; or
  2. The last four digits of your social security number; or
  3. A copy of your current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and address
  6. A statement identifying the election for which absent voter's ballots are requested
  7. A statement that you are a member of the organized militia serving on active duty outside your Ohio county of residence;
  8. If the request is for a primary election ballot, your political party affiliation;
  9. A statement specifying the applicant's relationship to you;
  10. The address to which ballot is to be mailed or fax number to which it is to be faxed;
  11. The signature and address of the person making the application; and
  12. The applicant's notarized statement attesting to the validity of the application.

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• Who may vote an Armed Services Absentee Ballot?

  If you are serving on active duty in the U.S. armed forces outside the state, you may vote by an armed services absentee ballot if you meet the requirements for voting in Ohio. Your spouse and dependents may vote by an armed services absentee ballot only if they left Ohio to be with or near you.

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• What is the voting residence of a service member?

  Your residence when you first entered the service, unless you subsequently established a voting residence elsewhere in Ohio.

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• How do I apply for an armed services absentee ballot?

  Qualified electors who are members of the armed services have multiple options available when applying for absentee ballots:

  1. If you already are a registered Ohio voter, you may request absentee ballots using a form available at the Federal voting assistance web site or a form prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State (Form 11-A: online or PDF, if appropriate, or Form 11-D).
  2. If you already are registered to vote, you may designate a relative to request absentee ballots on your behalf. Your relative must use the form prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State (Form 11-E).

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• Who Qualifies as Uniformed or Overseas Citizens?

  The voting rights of U.S. citizens living abroad and members of the uniformed services stationed outside Ohio are governed by federal law (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act - UOCAVA) as well as state law.

  Generally, citizens residing outside the U.S. are eligible to vote in federal elections in the state in which they resided immediately before leaving the U.S. if they were, or could have, registered to vote in that state while residing there, or currently are eligible under state law to vote in that state.

  Note: Federal law does not require any state to extend voting eligibility to a person who never has resided in that state on the basis that one or both of the person's parents formerly resided in that state.

  An eligible citizen may vote a federal ballot from the Ohio precinct in which the citizen resided immediately before leaving the U.S to live in a foreign country, even though that citizen may no longer have ties to, and may not intend to return to Ohio. The overseas citizen must register to vote and/or request absentee ballots using the current Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) in either the cardstock or on-line version. The on-line FPCA can be downloaded from www.fvap.gov.

  Some U.S. citizens living abroad may be eligible to vote a regular Ohio ballot if they maintain a qualifying voting address in Ohio and have lived outside Ohio for less than four years.

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• Uniformed Services Personnel

  A member of the uniformed services (armed forces, Merchant Marines, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is eligible to vote a regular ballot from the voting address in Ohio at which the service member resided for 30 days immediately before leaving Ohio to commence active duty service.

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• May I fax my request for an absentee ballot?

  If you are active duty military status, you may fax your request to 614.462.3489.

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• May I fax my ballot?

  No, your ballot must be returned to the county board of election by the deadline.

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• What is the deadline to request an absentee ballot?

  Due to delays in mailing to military addresses it is recommended that you request your ballot early so that it may be returned by the deadline. Legally you have until the Saturday before the election.

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• What is the deadline to return an absentee ballot?

  If properly returned from out-of-country, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections not later than the 10th day after the election and must be postmarked on or before the date of the election.

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For additional questions, call the Board of Elections at 614.462.3100 or email us at boe@franklincountyohio.gov.