ABSENTEE VOTING

**Pursuant to Public Act No. 21-2, June 2021 Special Session, COVID-19 may be used as a valid reason for requesting a ballot for any Primary, Election or Referendum held before November 3, 2021**

Connecticut law allows you to receive an absentee ballot if you cannot appear at your assigned polling place on election day because of active service in the Military, absence from the town during all of the hours of voting, illness, religious tenets forbid secular activity on the day of the election, duties as an election official at a polling place other than your own during all of the hours of voting, or physical disability. The State of Connecticut, via Public Act No. 21-2, June 2021 Special Session, has determined that the existence of the COVID-19 virus allows you to vote by absentee ballot if you so choose for your own safety.

HOW TO GET AN ABSENTEE BALLOT

  1. YOU MUST FIRST FILE AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION

  2. To get an Absentee Ballot Application: The application is named Application for Absentee Ballot, Form ED-3. These forms are available from your Town Clerk for general distribution, or you can access it on the Secretary of the State’s website for individual use. Download online at myvote.ct.gov/absentee. OR CLICK HERE —-> English Version Spanish Version

  3. Complete and sign the application.

  4. Return the application to the Town Clerk at Town Hall, 10 Main Street, New Milford, CT 06776.

  5. The Town Clerk processes the returned application, ensures that the voter is eligible to receive an absentee ballot, and enters the voter’s information into the Central Voter Registration System. At that point, a unique serial number is created for each ballot to ensure only the voter who requested it can vote with that ballot.

  6. Once the town clerk receives this application they will mail out a ballot packet on October 1st to the person listed on the application to the address listed on the application. This packet will contain the absentee ballot, an outer envelope and an inner envelope.

    HOW TO VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT

  7. WHEN TO VOTE VIA ABSENTEE BALLOT: You can vote by Absentee Ballot starting October 3, 2021 and no later than November 3, 2021 8:00PM .

  8. COMPLETE THE ABSENTEE BALLOT:

    1. Carefully fill out your ballot following all the included directions.

    2. Make sure to place the completed ballot in the inner envelope

    3. SEAL THE INNER ENVELOPE

    4. Then place the inner envelope in the outer envelope

    5. SEAL THE OUTER ENVELOPE.

  9. RETURN THE ABSENTEE BALLOT: You can return your ballot via US Mail (postmarked no sooner than October 3, 2021), in-person in the Town Clerk’s office (after October 3, 2021), or via the secure drop box that the Office of the Secretary of the State has provided to each town (no sooner than October 3, 2021). The secure drop box is located outside of Town Hall by the Church Street entrance. When the Town Clerk receives the ballot, they check that the serial number and barcode match the voter who returned the ballot, and then they secure the absentee ballot, still sealed in its envelope, until Election Day. For absentee ballots that are received prior to Election Day, the Town Clerks pre-mark the Election Day checklist to indicate that the voter returned an absentee ballot. Voters who return their absentee ballot prior to Election Day will not be allowed to vote in a polling place on Election Day. If an absentee ballot arrives on Election Day, it is held until after 8:00 pm when the absentee ballot is compared to the official Election Day checklist. If the voter who returned the absentee ballot on Election Day has voted in person in a polling place, the absentee ballot is not opened and is rejected. This procedure ensures that no voter can vote twice, even by mistake. When the polls close on Election Day, the Town Clerks feed the ballots into the tabulators to be counted. Each town is able to report their results in separate totals for absentee ballots and for polling places.

All ballots must be received by the close of polls, 8:00pm on Election Day.

Questions About Absentee Ballots

If you have further questions about the laws surrounding absentee ballots in Connecticut and how state and local election officials are working together to ensure than no voter is forced to choose between risking their health and exercising their right to vote, please contact us at LEAD@ct.gov or at (860) 509-6100.

For more information, or for an absentee emergency absentee ballot (within 6 days of election) or information on disabled persons absentee ballot voting accommodations click here ——-> https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/Voter-Information/Absentee-Voting

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR VOTERS WITH PRINT DISABILITIES

The process and procedures for those who need accommodations for print disabilities are as follows:

  • The absentee ballot application has been updated to make it accessible by screen readers, and includes a check box to indicate that the voter requires a ballot emailed to them because of a print disability.

  • Once the town clerk receives this application with the specified box checked off, they will send out a ballot packet – containing the outer envelope and inner envelope - WITHOUT a paper ballot, directly to the voter.

  • The town clerk will notify the Office of the Secretary of the State that the voter needs an accessible ballot and will provide the voter’s email address.

  • The Office of the Secretary of the State will email an accessible ballot directly to the voter.

  • The voter will be able to read and fill out the ballot using their screen reader, print it out, and return it in the ballot packet that was sent to by the town clerk.

  • The voter MUST sign the inner envelope, and local election officials have been instructed to approve the inner envelopes that are signed, even if the signature is not in the correct spot.

  • Those ballots will be hand-counted, as they will be printed on normal paper with normal ink and cannot be fed into the tabulator.