Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2026
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Absentee/mail-in voting is voting that does not happen in person on Election Day but instead occurs another way (generally by mail). All states allow for some form of absentee/mail-in voting. Fourteen states require voters to provide a valid excuse to vote absentee/by mail. Twenty-eight states allow any eligible voter to cast an absentee/mail-in ballot. Eight states have automatic mail-in ballot systems, also known as all-mail voting systems.[1][2] For more information about absentee/mail-in voting, click here.
This article presents information about absentee/mail-in voting legislation introduced during or carried over to each state's 2026 legislative session.
For more information about election legislation proposed and enacted in 2026, visit Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker.
Absentee/mail-in voting legislation
Enacted legislation
The table below lists 2026 absentee/mail-in voting bills enacted in each state. The following information is included for each bill:
- State
- Bill number
- Official bill name or caption
- Most recent action date
- Legislative status
- Sponsor party
- Topics dealt with by the bill
Bills are organized by state and then by most recent action. The table displays up to 100 results. To view more bills, use the arrows in the upper-right corner. Clicking on a bill will open its page on Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker, which includes bill details and a summary.
All legislation
The table below lists absentee/mail-in voting bills introduced during or carried over to each state's 2026 legislative session. The following information is included for each bill:
- State
- Bill number
- Official bill name or caption
- Most recent action date
- Legislative status
- Sponsor party
- Topics dealt with by the bill
Bills are organized by state and then by most recent action. The table displays up to 100 results. To view more bills, use the arrows in the upper-right corner. Clicking on a bill will open its page on Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker, which includes bill details and a summary.
See also
- Ballotpedia's election legislation tracker
- Ballotpedia's The Ballot Bulletin
- Election laws and legislation in the United States
- Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2025
- Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2024
- Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2023
- Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2022
- Absentee/mail-in voting legislation in the United States, 2021
Footnotes
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Absentee and Early Voting," August 1, 2025
- ↑ We use the term "absentee/mail-in voting" to describe systems in which requests or applications are required. We use the term "all-mail voting" to denote systems where the ballots themselves are sent automatically to all voters. We use the hyphenate term for absentee voting because some states use “mail voting” (or a similar alternative) to describe what has traditionally been called "absentee voting."
