Absentee Voting

All information is provided by Voter Information from the Oklahoma State Election Board. If you have further questions about absentee voting please feel free to call or email us. Our contact information is located on the "Contact Us" page.

Absentee Voting in Oklahoma

Absentee voting is an easy and convenient way to exercise your right to vote.
Any registered voter in Oklahoma may vote by absentee ballot. You don’t have to give a reason for wanting to vote absentee.

How to Apply

Applications for absentee ballots must be made in writing. Absentee ballot application forms are available from all county election boards and from the State Election Board. The forms also may be downloaded from the State Election Board's website. www.elections.state.ok.us

You are not required to use the form. You may write a letter to your county election board to apply for absentee ballots. The letter must contain the following information.

 Your name
 Your date of birth
The address at which you are registered to vote
The election or elections for which you are requesting ballots
The address to which the ballots should be mailed
Your signature

You may apply for absentee ballots for specific elections or for all the elections in which you are eligible to vote during the calendar year.

You may mail your application to the county election board, or you may fax it.

You also may personally deliver your own application to the county election board office. (You may not, however, deliver someone else’s application- it’s the law!)

The deadline to apply to have an absentee ballot mailed to you is always 5 p.m. on Wednesday before the election.

If you apply for all elections, you must renew your application each year to continue receiving absentee ballots.

Returning Your Ballot

If your absentee ballot affidavit must be notarized, you should be aware that Notaries Public in Oklahoma are not allowed to charge a fee to notarize an absentee ballot. Also, candidates on the ballot, their close relatives, and some campaign officials are not allowed to notarize absentee ballot affidavits.
You must return your absentee ballot to the county election board by mail.

An absentee ballot must be in the hands of the county election board by 7p.m. on election day to be counted.

Special Conditions

The law still includes some “excuses” for voters to use when they apply for absentee ballots. The excuses activate special conditions for some voters that make it easier to vote absentee.

Physically incapacitated voters and voters who care for physically incapacitated persons who cannot be left alone may vote by absentee ballot. These voters may apply for absentee ballots only by mail, fax, or telegraph. Their absentee ballot affidavits do not have to be notarized, but they do have to be witnessed by two people. Candidates and their close relatives are not allowed to witness absentee ballot affidavits.

Voters in nursing homes in the same county where they are registered to vote may vote by absentee ballot. These voters may apply for absentee ballots only by mail, fax, or telegraph. Their absentee ballots are delivered to the nursing home by an Absentee Voting Board a few days before the election.

Oklahomans who are in the military or who are living overseas and their spouses and dependents may vote by absentee ballot even if they are not registered to vote. (They must be eligible to be registered to vote, however.) Military and overseas voters may apply for absentee ballots by mail or fax. Military voters should contact the Voting Service Officers in their units for application forms and information. Overseas voters may obtain the same materials at any United States military base, embassy or consulate.

Emergency Absentee Voters

Voters who become incapacitated after 5p.m. on the Tuesday preceding an election may apply for an absentee ballot through special emergency procedures. These voters must send a written request to their local county election board. The request must also include a doctor’s statement that the voter is incapacitated and unable to vote in person. The county election board has a form for this purpose.

The voter chooses someone to deliver the request for ballots and the doctor’s statement to the county election board. This person is the voter’s agent. The agent receives the voter’s ballot and delivers it to the voter. After the voter marks the ballot, the agent returns it to the county election board. The agent must return the voted ballot to the county election board by 7p.m. on election day.

In-Person Absentee Voting

In-person voting is conducted in the Payne County Election Board office on the following dates and times before all elections:

For Federal and State Elections in-person absentee voting will be conducted on the following.

The Friday before the election from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
The Saturday before the election from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
The Monday before the election from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

For County, City and School Elections in-person absentee voting will be conducted on the following:

The Friday before the election from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
The Monday before the election from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

In-person absentee voting is held at the Payne County Election Board Office located at 315 W. 6th Street, Suite 207 in Stillwater Oklahoma.


Contact your County Election Board office for information.