If you are sick or disabled, a ballot can be delivered to your home on Election Day. You must make your request at least three days before the election. On Election Day, two justices of the peace (of different parties) will deliver a ballot to you, and then will bring the ballot back to the polling place so that it can be placed in the ballot box and counted.
You can also request that the town
clerk mail you an early voter absentee ballot. This ballot will arrive with
a return envelope so that the ballot, once voted, can be returned to the clerk
to be counted on Election Day. The clerk must receive the ballot by the close
of polls on Election Day in order to be counted. A ballot can be requested any
time before an election. Clerks will mail absentee ballots within the 30 days
prior to the election. You may pick
up a ballot at the town clerk's office at any time beginning thirty days prior
to the general or primary election.
A early voted absentee ballot in a sealed envelope, can be hand delivered
to the clerk on Election Day or prior to Election Day. The ballot can be returned
to the clerk or delivered to the polling place by you or any person you authorize
to return the ballot. You can only pick up your own ballot from the clerk's
office. Early voter absentee ballots must be returned to the town clerk's office
before the close of the office on the day before the election or to the polling
place before 7:00 pm on the day of the election in order to be counted.
You, or an authorized person, including a candidate or campaign workers, a
family member or a health care provider acting on your behalf, may apply for
an early voter absentee ballot for you. Requests submitted on your behalf by
an unrelated authorized person (except health care workers) must be made in
writing or in person. All other requests can be made by telephone, in person,
or in writing. (Family member in this context means your spouse, children, brothers,
sisters, parents, spouse's parents, grandparents, and spouse's grandparents.)
Requests for an early voter absentee ballot can be made at any time until 5:00
pm or the closing of the town clerk's office on the day before the election.
The request can be made at the same time you register to vote, so long as the
voter registration application and absentee ballot request are submitted by
12:00 pm on the second Monday before the election.
All early voter absentee ballot requests must be submitted by 5:00 pm or the
close of the town clerk's office on the day before the election. A request for
an early voter absentee ballot is good for only one election, except that you
can make one request to cover both the primary election and the general election,
so long as both ballots are to be mailed to the same address.
The town clerk must mail a complete set of early voter absentee ballots to voters who have requested ballots. The ballots must be mailed as soon as possible after an application for a ballot has been filed with the clerk, and the clerk has received the ballots from the printer. Early voter absentee ballots that are sent to voters who are outside of the country must be sent airmail, first class, postpaid, when such service is available.
When a voter goes to the town clerk's office to vote early the voter is given
the absentee ballots and envelopes and is provided a private place to mark the
ballots. The voter must then seal the ballots in the envelope, sign the certificate,
and return the ballots in the sealed envelope to the town clerk or an assistant
town clerk. No person, except justices of the peace, may take any ballot from
the town clerk on behalf of any other person.
Early or absentee voter ballots must be returned to the clerk's office before
the close of business on the day before the election (be sure to check your
town clerk's hours) or to the polling place by 7:00 pm on Election Day. The
ballots may be returned by mail or in person, unless the ballots were delivered
by justices of the peace who would then return them to the town clerk. The town
clerk must record receipt of the voted ballot(s) on the list of early or absentee
voters. Once an early voter absentee ballot has been returned to the clerk in
the sealed envelope with the signed certificate, it shall be stored in a secure
place and shall not be returned to the voter for any reason. During the hours
that the polls are open, the town clerk delivers the envelopes to the presiding
officer in the polling place where the early or absentee voter would have voted
if that person had voted in person.
On Election Day, election officials examine the checklist to see whether the
voter has already voted in person. The election officials also check the certificate
on the envelope containing the ballots to make sure it is properly filled out.
When the election officials are satisfied that the early or absentee voter is
legally qualified to vote, has not already voted in person and that the certificate
is properly filled out, they open the envelope containing the ballot(s). Without
unfolding the entrance checklist indicating the fact that that voter has voted
by means of an early voter absentee ballot, they deposit the ballots in the
ballot boxes or voting machine. Early voter absentee ballots are commingled
with the ballots of voters who have voted in person. When an early or absentee
voter is not legally qualified to vote, or has voted in person, or if the affidavit
on any envelope is insufficient, the certificate is not signed, or the voted
ballot is not in the voted ballot envelope, or, in the case of a primary vote,
the early or absentee voter has failed to return the unvoted portions of the
primary ballots, the envelope must be marked defective, the ballots inside may
not be counted.
