Absentee Voting

The state of Missouri allows absentee voting if you:

 

  • Will be absent from your voting jurisdiction on Election Day;
     
  • Are incapacitated or confined due to illness or physical disability, or caring for an incapacitated person and reside at the same address. For more information on permanent disability and voting absentee, please click here.
     
  • Are restricted by religious belief or practice;
     
  • Are employed as:

    • An election authority, as a member of an election authority, or by an election authority at a location other than such voter's polling place;

    • A first responder;

    • A health care worker; or

    • A member of law enforcement;
       

  • Are incarcerated, but have retained all your voting qualifications;
     
  • Are a participant in the Missouri SAFE at home program.

 

If you are qualified as any of the stated above, the next step is to decide if you want to vote by mail or in person.

 

Absentee Voting In Person

Information for the April 8, 2024 Municipal General Election will be posted when available.

 

Absentee Voting By Mail

If you wish to vote by mail, you may request your application for a ballot up to 10 weeks in advance of the election but no later than the second Wednesday prior to the election.  Ballots will begin being mailed to voters starting 6 weeks prior to any election. 

 

Please note that all ballots must be notarized (except those submitted by an incapacitated or confined voter*), signed and received by the Election Board no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.

 

Have additional questions?

Voters may call 816-842-4820 ext. 227 to request an absentee ballot application, write a letter, or download the application from this site. Absentee ballot applications will be available prior to each election. Please note that the deadline for Absentee Ballot Applications has passed for the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

Absentee ballot applications may be returned by mail or fax to:

 

KCEB Mailing Address:

Kansas City Election Board

Attn: Absentee Department

4407 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Kansas City, MO 64130

 

816-221-3348 (Fax)

absenteevoting@kceb.org

 

Once an application is received, a ballot will be mailed to the voter within three business days once the ballot is available.

 

Missouri Absentee Ballot Rules:

State law requires that applicants (or a relative, as described below) submit an absentee ballot application to the local election authority. The law specifies who may submit these applications to the local election authority, and does not authorize a third party to submit the application on behalf of the voter unless a relative, as described in Section 115.279, RSMo:

Application for an absentee ballot may be made by the applicant in person, or by mail, or for the applicant, in person, by his or her guardian or a relative within the second degree by consanguinity or affinity.  The election authority shall accept applications by facsimile transmission and by electronic mail within the limits of its telecommunications capacity.

Any organization that sends absentee ballot application forms to a voter with instructions to print, complete, and submit to the voter’s LEA is operating within the law.

However, an organization that collects information and submits an absentee ballot application on behalf of the voter (and is not related) is not meeting the requirements of the law.

Any deviation from the statutory requirements can – and previously has – resulted in contested elections. In some cases, this has led to elections being invalidated and a new election being called.