Is there one place that lists by state the rules about when a mail-in ballot must be received?

This site from a government web site looks legit but it is my understanding that some of the states (like mine) are still tweaking the procedure. I recommend checking with your state’s Election Board or League of Women Voters closer to the time..

Here is info from vote.org

^^ That’s a good site. @zenvelo !

@zenvelo That site is brilliant! Thanks.

I think this site is what you are looking for. https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-11-receipt-and-postmark-deadlines-for-absentee-ballots.aspx

Some states are still debating whether to change the rule as @janbb said.

Realize that states that only require a postmark in time and not for the ballot to arrive by Election Day still might call the election before all ballots arrive or are counted if the outstanding ballot count would not change the result.

@JLeslie Thank you! That had it perfectly easy to read. Exactly what I was looking for. I see the potential we won’t know the winner for about a week.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m working on get out the vote with others in my congregation who are more in the know and one of them says repeatedly that the policies keep changing. The Chair (and NPR) have said we almost definitely won’t know the winner on Election Day since the counting won’t be done.

The pundit on NPR did say that Florida may be called on Election night since it has early voting and mail-in and counts as they come in so that may be an indicator of how the election will go.

If this is off-topic feel free to flag but I think it is along the lines of what you are asking.

That is relevant, @janbb. Thank you.

I was interested to know how many states allow ballots that arrive after election day to be counted. From the list supplied by @JLeslie, there is a good number of them (19 by the list), and some are swing states like Iowa and Ohio.

My state doesn’t count ballots that arrive after election day. Many states don’t. Those will be the easiest for the AP to declare. The other ones will require some time.

@Hawaii_Jake Even with the ones that need to arrive by Election Day since there will be so manymore, I doubt they will all be able to be counted that day.

You might find it interesting that in the last election (FL just had an election last week) my mail-in ballot didn’t show as counted until the day after the election. A little nerve racking. I had handed in my ballot at a voting location about a week before Election Day, and it did show received online, but I don’t know if it showed as received that day that I turned it in, because I didn’t check online that day.

I don’t understand why they can’t count the vote as soon as they receive the ballot? When you early vote does the vote not actually get counted until Election Day?

The reason I think this is all relevant is because if they don’t actually count our ballots in my state until Election Day then many people switching to mail-in shouldn’t affect processing the ballots.

I expect Florida to not be called election night, because I expect it to be very close in my state. I hope I am wrong, the Democrats have been extremely active here trying to make sure people order their ballots or go vote.

The electors don’t vote until December if I remember correctly. In my opinion it’s not a big deal if it takes a few days to get the election result. The media could help America understand that not calling it election night isn’t some sort of tragedy like Trump wants to make it, although, my expectation is we will know election night.

I guess we could message it on social media. Just say Trump might be right it might take a day or two. So what?

Here is a simple way to answer your question?

1. Is your Governor a Republican? If so, and your state is NOT one of the following, ballots are due NO LATER THAN ELECTION DAY.

Iowa (Republican control of House and Senate)
Maryland (Democratic control of House and Senate)
Mississippi (Republican control of House and Senate)
North Dakota (Republican control of House and Senate)
Ohio (Republican control of House and Senate)
Texas (Republican control of House and Senate)
Utah (Republican control of House and Senate)
West Virginia (Republican control of House and Senate)

Frankly, I am surprised that SEVEN states in 100% Republican control allow ballots to be received after election day. Given the fact that mail-in ballots are generally in the hands of voters 3–4 weeks before election day, I am surorised that any leeway is given in ANY state.

All three large Democratic strongholds (CA, NY and IL) allow ballots to be received after election day. Illinois allows FOURTEEN DAYS!

@crazyguy Well, military tends to be more Republican so it isn’t shocking that mail-in ballots are allowed to arrive after election day in some Republican leaning states.

@JLeslie, what does the military have to do with anything?

@crazyguy The military was one of the primary reasons we started to have a mail-in option. I think it was during the Civil War that we first allowed soldiers on the battle field to mail-in vote, but even in more recent times all states allow military to mail-in vote, which is also known as absentee voting. A military person can maintain their residency in one state while they are moved around. They can own their primary residence in a different state, and still have their residency in the one state they choose (they have to have lived in that state at some point) and so they vote mail-in. Same with military abroad.

Let’s say their residency is NY, but they actually live in MD. They would have a NY driver’s license with the MD address, NY license plates, vote in NY elections, and even be on jury duty roles in NY. Some of the laws regarding allowing mail-in to arrive after the election date might harken back to allowing military personnel a fair chance to vote and only requiring the post mark be on time.

In Florida the mail-in ballot must be received by election day, but overseas voters it must be signed by election day and arrive within 10 days after election day. So military abroad and any citizen abroad has more time. There also is a special fax number for voters abroad that cannot be used by anyone living in the US. Unless, that has changed.

@JLeslie: Thanks a lot for the education.

Help me out with a couple other issues I have with mail-in voting:

1. Why does Illinois allow ballots FOURTEEN DAYS to be delivered by the US Post Office?
2. Why does it take upto four-six weeks for election results to be published in some states?