In 2022 there will be three elections - April, August, and November.
Form to request an absentee ballot
To vote an absentee ballot in Missouri, you must have an excuses.
- Absence on Election Day from the jurisdiction of the election authority in which I am registered
- Incapacity or confinement due to illness or physical disability, including caring for a person who is incapacitatedor confined due to illness or disability
- Religious belief or practice
- Employment by an election authority
- Incarceration, although I have retained all the necessary qualifications for voting
- Certified participation in the address confidentiality program
The form that requests the ballot does not need to be notarized. (Note that it is the envelope that holds your completed ballot that must be notarized for absentee ballots without a health excuse.)
Do not forget to sign the printed form. Once you have all required papers in an envelope, put a stamp on it and mail it to your local election authority. Or, you can scan the signed form and email it. Or fax it. For most of Missouri's counties that is the County Clerk.
Request your ballot early. Issues with the postal service have made USPS delivery times long. If it takes two weeks for your request form to reach your election authority, two weeks for the election authority to mail the absentee ballot to you, and two weeks for your completed ballot to get back to the election authority, that is 6 weeks!
Note the small print at the bottom of the request form tells you that if you have not voted in person in this election authority, you must include a copy of a valid ID with your request for an absentee ballot.
Examples of acceptable identification if you have not voted in person in your county:
- Identification issued by the state of Missouri, an agency of the state, or a local election authority of the state;
- Identification issued by the United States government or agency thereof;
- Identification issued by an institution of higher education, including a university, college, vocational and technical school, located within the state of Missouri; or
- A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government document that contains the name and address of the voter.
