If your calendar tells you that you won’t be in the state on November 6th or have a condition that keeps you from a polling place, you can vote now. Absentee voting started this week and it continues until the close of business at the local election authority offices on November 5.
Although the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot that can be mailed to you is October 31, it’s still legal after that to walk into the election authority office and vote in person.
Secretary of State spokesman Stacie Temple says absentee voters are not supposed to lie about their absence. But she knows of no absentee voters who’ve ever been prosecuted because they fibbed about being out of town.
She says election authorities mail absentee ballots to people in nursing homes or others once they qualify as “permanent absentees.” To qualify, says Temple, “Voters need to first request to be added to the permanent absentee voter list. Then, prior to every election, the election authority sends them an absentee ballot application. Upon receiving that completed application, the election authority sends the absentee ballot to the voter.”
Missourians overseas can apply for their ballots and get them through the internet. But they have to send the voted ballot back by regular mail–unless they’re in a combat zone. Those Missourians can mail the ballot back through the internet.