Every state will accept your voted ballot by post, and some will accept it by electronic means.
To check if your state accepts electronic ballot submissions, go to our State Voting Requirements page and select your state. On the following page select "Overseas & Military Voters" and "Voter Materials Transmission Options" to see the ways in which your state accepts ballots.
If your state does not accept electronic ballot submissions, there are several ways to return your ballot:
- Postal Mail. Mail your ballot as early as possible from the post office and make sure it is postmarked to show the mailing date was on or before Election Day. Be sure the address includes "USA."
- Carriers such as FedEx, DHL, UPS, This option is faster and more trackable than either pouch or post, though it costs money and doesn't deliver to P.O. boxes. Do not use one courier envelope to return multiple individually sealed ballot envelopes to your election official without first verifying that your election official will accept this procedure and your ballots will be counted. You must explicitly ask the courier agent to apply an overseas postmark to the envelope. Do not use a delivery option that requires a signature upon receipt. Local election offices often cannot sign for mail, which may result in your ballot being returned or delayed.
- U.S. Consulates and Embassies: In many countries, voters may bring their ballot to a U.S. Consulate or Embassy, where it will go into the diplomatic pouch and be delivered to a domestic U.S. sorting facility. From there it will enter the regular postal system within the United States. Voters must seal ballots in their postage paid return envelope, or add sufficient U.S. postage to their ballot’s envelope for delivery to their election office from within the United States. A ballot sent this way is exempt from the customs inspection queue that catches ordinary tracked international mail, but the tradeoff is pouch transit time (embassies quote roughly 2–6 weeks depending on post) rather than a customs holdup — so the risk with the pouch is missing the deadline due to slow transit. It is important to check with your embassy regarding transit time before using this option.
Note:
- Complete and mail your ballot as early as possible, being sure to affix the correct postage.
- Do NOT give your ballot to someone to take back to the US and drop into the local post. This is a sure way to have it rejected. Overseas ballots must have overseas postmarks on their envelopes!
- For Military Voters: Take advantage of the free Express Mail available from military post offices. This service is often referred to as "Label 11".