Dates for 2024 Early In-Person and Mail Voting

Research by: April Tan

Overview

While Election Day falls on November 5 for the 2024 general election, 47 states and Washington, D.C., will offer at least one option to all voters to cast their ballot before that date. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., will begin offering voting options in September, and 32 more states will begin offering voting options in October. Only three states do not offer an option to vote before election day.

Figure 1. Number of Days Before Election Day that Voters Can Cast a Ballot, 2024 General Election

Early in-person and mail voting options are widespread throughout the country, and voters have increasingly used these options. In the 2024 general election, nearly 97% of voting-age citizens will be able to vote early in person or by mail without needing to provide an eligible reason.

Defining Terms.

This focus brief uses the phrase “early in-person voting” to refer to voting that is available to all voters and conducted in person before the day of the election. This includes policies referred to by states as early voting, in-person no-excuse absentee voting, and advanced voting. Similarly, “mail voting” refers to voting where all voters are eligible to receive their ballot via mail, including policies referred to by states as all-mail voting and no-excuse absentee by mail.

This focus brief lays out the timelines for early in-person and mail voting in the 2024 general election across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Voting timelines are based on statewide calendars, although some states allow local jurisdictions some flexibility to set their exact voting period. This brief focuses on the earliest and latest date that all voters in a state will be able to access early in-person or mail voting in 2024.[1] All information is current as of September 6, 2024.

Dates for Early In-Person Voting in 2024

In the 2024 general election, 47 states and Washington, D.C., will offer early in-person voting.

Figure 2 shows the start and end dates for early in-person voting for each state. The date ranges shown only reflect the start and end dates of the mandatory statewide early voting period. In some states, some local jurisdictions may provide options to vote early in person beyond these dates. The provided ranges do not account for any variation in the availability of early voting between those dates due to holidays, weekends, or other closures.[2]

The beginning of early in-person voting ranges from 46 days before Election Day (September 20) in Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia to five days before Election Day (October 31) in Kentucky.[3] Most states begin early in-person voting in the middle of October.

Twenty states have early in-person voting through the Monday before Election Day (November 4), including six states that keep early voting locations open on Election Day. Additionally, seven states and Washington, D.C., have early in-person voting through the Sunday before Election Day (November 3), and eight states have early in-person voting through the Saturday before Election Day (November 2). The other 12 states end early in-person voting several days before Election Day.

Figure 2. Early In-Person Voting Start and End Dates, 2024 General Election

See Table 1 in the appendix for early in-person voting start and end dates in each state.

The early in-person voting dates shown in Figure 2 do not reflect the exact number of early in-person voting days, as they do not account for variation in weekend and holiday voting availability or local discretion in start and end dates. To learn more about the availability of weekend and holiday voting in 2024, see CEIR’s Data Dive, “2024 Weekend Availability of Early In-Person Voting.” For more information on the dates and hours of early in-person voting in a specific area, voters should contact their local election official or click on their state in the table at the end of this focus brief to be directed to the official state election information website.

Periods for Mail Voting and Ballot Receipt in 2024

In the 2024 general election, 36 states and Washington, D.C., will allow all voters to vote by mail without needing to cite an eligible reason.

Figure 3 shows the mail voting period and mail ballot receipt period for each state.[4] For the start of the mail voting period, the dates shown are primarily based on statewide deadlines for distributing mail ballots.[5] They represent the period during which all voters in the state can receive and cast a mail ballot, though some local jurisdictions in some states may distribute mail ballots before the dates shown here. For the mail ballot receipt period, the dates shown are the period after Election Day during which voted ballots can still be received by the local election office if the ballot is postmarked on or before election day.

In 20 states, voters must request a mail ballot for specific elections or election years. These requests can be made well in advance of the mail voting period in all 20 of these states. Eight other states allow voters to ‘permanently’ request a mail ballot for all elections or request a mail ballot only for a specific election.[6] Finally, eight states and Washington, D.C., will automatically mail ballots to all active registered voters for the 2024 general election.

Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., begin the mail voting period in September, mostly later in the month. The beginning of the mail voting period for the remaining 21 states is in October. The median state begins the mail voting period 30 days before Election Day.

In every state, mail ballots must be completed by the voter on or before Election Day, but states have different deadlines by which ballots must be received. Twenty-one states require all mail ballots to be returned by Election Day. In 12 states and Washington, D.C., mail ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day may be validly received and counted after Election Day. In three states—North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah—mail ballots that are postmarked by the day before Election Day may be validly received and counted after Election Day.

Mail ballot receipt deadlines that fall after Election Day range from three days after Election Day (November 8) in Kansas, Massachusetts, and Virginia, to 21 days after Election Day (November 26) in the State of Washington. No state permits ballots to be hand delivered after Election Day.

Figure 3. Mail Voting and Ballot Receipt Periods, 2024 General Election

See Table 1 in the appendix for mail voting dates and ballot receipt deadlines in each state.

Figure 3 displays mandatory statewide mail voting periods, but some states give local election officials some discretion to begin mailing ballots to voters earlier. Voters who choose to vote by mail should consider when mail voting begins in their specific jurisdiction, as well as postal delivery times for the purposes of requesting and returning mail ballots. For more information on the deadlines and requirements of mail voting, voters should contact their local election official or click on their state in the table at the end of this focus brief to be directed to the official state election information website.

Benefits of Voting Before Election Day

Options to vote before election day bolster election integrity and provide eligible voters more opportunity to cast a ballot. When most voters cast their ballot on election day, any problem can have an outsized effect. By contrast, when voting is spread out over a longer time, election officials can detect issues earlier, mitigate challenges more easily, and offer a greater number of options to any voters who may be impacted. Research has demonstrated that more options to vote before election day mean more opportunities to identify and counteract any human error, machine breakdown, power outage, cyberattack, rumor campaign, or other potential issue that may arise.

Voting Before Election Day Varies by State

While options to vote early in person and by mail are available in 47 states and Washington, D.C., the timelines for voters to use these options vary by state. Most states with early in-person voting begin offering such voting at least two weeks before Election Day, and nearly every state with mail voting gives voters several weeks to vote by mail prior to Election Day.

States also vary in the administration of options to vote before election day. Voters who want to vote before Election Day should check the rules and procedures in effect in their state, including exact hours and locations for early in-person voting and specific mail ballot request and return deadlines. The table on the next page provides links to each state’s official election information website, where voters can learn more and contact their local election officials to confirm times, locations, and procedures for early in-person and mail voting in their area.

All information in this focus brief is current as of September 6, 2024, and may be subject to change in response to legislation, litigation, or other developments as the general election approaches. For example, a third-party legal challenge has already delayed mail ballot distribution in North Carolina.[7] Voters should visit vote.gov or ask their local election officials to confirm dates, locations, and procedures for early in-person and mail voting in their area.

Links to Official State Election Websites

Click on a state to learn more about its early in-person voting:

AK | AZ | AR | CA | CO | CT | DE | DC | FL | GA | HI | ID | IL | IN | IA | KS | KY | LA | ME | MD | MA | MI | MN | MO | MT | NE | NV | NJ | NM | NY | NC | ND | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VT | VA | WA | WV | WI | WY

Click on a state to learn more about its mail voting:

AK | AZ | CA | CO | DC | FL | GA | HI | ID | IL | IA | KS | ME | MD | MA | MI | MN | MT | NE | NV | NJ | NM | NY | NC | ND | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SD | UT | VT | VA | WA | WI | WY

This focus brief is part of CEIR’s ongoing research into voting before election day. To learn more, visit:

The Expansion of Voting Before Election Day, 2000-2024

CEIR Focus Brief: The Growing Use of Voting Before Election Day

Data Dive: The Growth of Early In-Person and Mail Voting

Data Dive: 2024 Weekend Availability of Early In-Person Voting

Appendix: Specific Dates in Each State

Table 1. Early In-Person and Mail Voting Dates, 2024 General Election

*For states that have both early voting and in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot, this table only includes dates for early voting.

†For states that have mandatory statewide in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot and allow local election officials to provide optional early voting at their discretion, this table only includes the dates for in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot.

Note: In some states, the beginning of the mail voting period may start earlier than shown in this table at the discretion of local officials. All states with mail voting require ballots to be voted and mailed on or before Election Day. Some states require local election officials to accept mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were sent on or before Election Day.

Additional Notes and Resources

[1] The information in this focus brief is based on state election calendars. If a state election calendar did not include dates for the relevant voting methods, the dates were calculated based on statutory language or information on a state’s election website. In instances where there are multiple versions of a statute with different effective dates, this focus brief summarizes provisions that will be in effect for the 2024 general election. All dates reflect mandatory statewide dates and deadlines and do not include dates that are set at the discretion of local officials.

[2] For states that have both early voting and in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot, this focus brief only includes dates for early voting. For states that have mandatory statewide in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot and allow local election officials to provide optional early voting at their discretion, this table only includes the dates for in-person options to vote by absentee or mail ballot.

[3] This brief categorizes Pennsylvania’s early in-person voting as beginning on October 22. This is because early in-person voting in Pennsylvania involves voters applying in-person for a mail ballot at a designated location, then completing and casting the ballot before leaving. This option must be offered once mail ballots are finalized, and no later than October 22. In practice, this may vary by county and could begin earlier statewide if ballots are ready. Under state law, local election officials must begin processing in-person mail ballot applications beginning on September 16. However, due to third-party ballot-access challenges pending in the state supreme court, certified ballots may not be printed and ready to issue to voters until after that date. “Election Day is about 2 months away and ready or not, the first ballots could go out within days,” AP News, September 4, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/early-voting-mail-ballots-election-97c2bd30abf227772481edb4f2cc5413.

[4] Mail voting periods do not account for military and overseas ballot timelines.

[5] For most states, the beginning of the mail voting period shown in Figure 3 is based on the statewide deadline for when ballots must be mailed to voters who have requested a ballot. For the eight all-mail voting states and Washington, D.C., this is replaced with the statewide deadline for election officials to mail a ballot to all active registered voters. For Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio, the beginning of the mail voting period reflects when mail ballots must be ready or delivered to local election officials, when in-person early voting begins, or when voters must receive their ballots. In some states, mail ballots may be sent to voters earlier than the statewide deadline at the discretion of local officials.

[6] National Conference of State Legislatures, “Table 3: States With Permanent Absentee Voting Lists,” updated February 6, 2024, https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/table-3-states-with-permanent-absentee-voting-lists.

[7] The statutory deadline for mail ballot distribution in North Carolina was September 6, 2024. On September 6, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled to remove a third-party presidential candidate from the ballot, temporarily delaying mail ballot distribution. The state supreme court upheld the lower court ruling on September 9. Ballots must be reprinted before they can be mailed to voters who requested them. Zoë Richards ,“RFK Jr. must be removed from North Carolina ballots, state Supreme Court rules,” NBC News, September 9, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/rfk-jr-must-removed-north-carolina-ballots-state-supreme-court-rules-rcna170341.