Absentee Ballot Voting

Tuesday, September 5th is the deadline to request an Absentee Ballot to vote in the primary. There are a lot of competitive elections in the primary this year, so if you might be out of town or unable to make it to your polling location make sure you get an Absentee Ballot sent to you. According to the State Board of Elections website:

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is:

• If the application is mailed, 4:30 p.m. on September 5, 2006; or
• If the application is faxed, 11:59 p.m. on September 5, 2006.

After the deadline, a Late Application for Absentee Ballot must be completed in person at the board of elections.

You can get the application by clicking here.

One friend of mine thinks that the mail in deadline may have passed despite the board of ed website, since the board may want it recieved by 4:30pm Tuesday rather than mailed. If possible I would encourage you to fax it or go in person to the Board of Elections office at:


Howard County Board of Elections
Executive Park Building
8900 Columbia 100 Parkway
Columbia, MD 21045-2336
410-313-5820/ 410-313-5833 (fax)

If you do mail it, make sure you get it post-marked by 4:30pm, since many things dropped in mail drop off boxes do not get post-marked until later.

Make sure you follow all of their instructions on the form and on this website. If they can find any rule you have not followed they may not count your ballot.

If you don't get an Absentee Ballot mailed to you, then you should call the Board of Elections to check to see what happened. You should still be able to vote in person if they didn't send you an Absentee Ballot.