2022 Midterm Elections: When, How To Get Absentee Ballots In Maryland

MARYLAND — Voters in a handful of states can request an absentee ballot now as 2022 midterm election campaigns enter the final stretch. Absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 general election in Maryland will be available around Sept. 29.

Voters should be aware the procedure to get a mail-in ballot they followed in the 2020 general election may not be the same now. Multiple states changed their election laws after the COVID-19 pandemic upended voting patterns in the presidential election, with 69 percent of Americans casting ballots nontraditionally, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Sponsors of new state laws on absentee voting say the changes improve election security, while critics say they make it harder for people to vote.

There are three ways Marylanders can request a mail-in ballot.

• Online if you have a Maryland’s driver’s license or MVA-issued ID card.
• Complete and return one of the forms below. Read the instructions, enter the required information, print the form, sign it, and return it to your local board of elections. You can return it by mail, fax, or email (scanned as an attachment).
  • Mail-in ballot application for 2022 elections (PDF)
  • Solicitud de Papeleta de Votante Ausente para las Elecciones del 2022 (PDF)
• Go to your local board of elections and fill out and turn in the form.
• If you want to get a mail-in ballot for all future elections, you can sign up for the permanent mail-in ballot list when you request a mail-in ballot. Once you are on this list, we will send you your mail-in ballot for each future election you are eligible to vote in. You won't have to submit a request for each election.

On Election Day, Maryland voters will choose a governor to replace Gov. Larry Hogan, who is term limited. Democratic nominee Wes Moore will face Dan Cox, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and has been regularly criticized by Hogan.

Voters also can decide several ballot initiatives, including a marijuana legalization amendment, that would allow marijuana to be purchased by residents 21 or older beginning in July 2023. Approval of the measure would direct the Maryland State Legislature to pass laws for the use, distribution, regulation, and taxation of marijuana.

Other ballot measures would:

• Rename the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of Maryland and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland
• Amend the Maryland Constitution to require that state legislators reside and maintain a place of abode in the district in which they wish to represent for six months prior to the date of election
• Amend the Maryland Constitution to increase the amount in controversy in civil proceedings in which the right to a jury trial may be limited by legislation from $15,000 to $25,000

Deadlines for returning an absentee ballot for the Nov. 8 general election vary in Maryland:

• If you hand deliver your request and the ballots are ready, you can pick up your mail-in ballot. You may take your mail-in ballot with you and return it by mail or you can vote it at the local board office and give it to an election official. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot in person is election day, Nov. 8. Visit your local board of elections' website for hours of operation.
• If you want to receive your ballot by mail or fax, your request must be received (not just mailed) by Tuesday, Nov. 1.
• If you want to receive your ballot via the internet, your request must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 4, for a request sent in the mail, or by 11:59 pm, Friday, Nov. 4, for a request sent by fax or submitted online.
• If you miss the deadlines to receive your ballot by mail, fax, or via the internet, but still want to vote by mail-in ballot, you or your agent must apply in person at your local board of elections.

In the 2020 presidential election, 43 percent of voters cast absentee ballots by mail and 26 percent voted in person before Election Day, according to the Census Bureau. Four years earlier, 21 percent of voters mailed in their ballots and 19 percent voted in person before Election Day.

Among groups seeing increases in absentee or early voting in 2020 were voters over 65, those with a bachelor’s degree, women, and Asian and Hispanic voters, according to the Census Bureau.

In Maryland, a significant portion of voters — 82.9 percent or more — used "nontraditional" voting methods in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hit. That included those who voted early and/or by absentee ballots.

The increase in those using nontraditional voting methods in Maryland represents a change of about 35 percentage points or more compared to the 2016 election.

Absentee ballot requests are already being taken in several states. Once the applications are verified, election officials begin mailing them during the times specified in state laws, according to information gathered by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Those officials will continue to verify and mail out absentee ballot requests for either a designated period or right up to Election Day. The NCSL said few states don’t specify when they start accepting absentee ballots, but in general:

• Ten states — Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin — begin mailing ballots to voters more than 45 days before Election Day.
• Eleven states — Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming — begin mailing ballots to voters 45 days before the election.
• Fourteen states — Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina and Vermont — begin mailing ballots to voters 30-45 days before the election.
• Fourteen states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Utah and Washington — begin mailing ballots to voters fewer than 30 days before the election.
• Eight states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington — automatically mail absentee ballots to all voters.