Local election officials are responsible for seeing that elections are run honestly and efficiently, and our experience is that they do their job exceedingly well in a sometimes difficult environment. Assuming that you also did your job and requested, received, and returned your ballot with plenty of time to spare, then there is, unfortunately, only one variable left which is beyond the control of both you and your election official--and that's the postal service. Once you leave your ballot with a postal carrier and until it arrives at your local election office, everything is in their hands.
We can only suggest that you request your ballot as early as possible (you can submit your voter registration/ballot request form (also called a Federal Post Card Application or FPCA) as early as January 1 of the calendar year in which you plan to vote), and return it as soon as you get it. Overseas ballots must be sent to voters 45 days before the election, and as you likely know, you can request to have your ballot delivered electronically so that you get it more quickly.
Note that while every state will accept your voted ballot by post, some will also 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.