Absentee voting removes scheduling mishaps for truckers

If one thing about trucking is true, it’s that no matter how carefully you plan, plans can go awry. With the November election right around the corner, capitalizing on absentee voting can take Murphy’s Law out of the equation and make sure you don’t miss out on your right to vote.

All states offer advance voting, which is an ideal setup for professional drivers. Some states allow mail-in ballots, commonly referred to as absentee ballots. Others allow voting in person at locations leading up to Election Day. This is known as early voting. A growing number of states even conduct certain, if not all, elections by mail. Your local elections office or secretary of state’s office can provide details.

Absentee voting

In a typical year, 35 states offer “no-excuse” absentee voting – meaning you do not have to give a reason why you want to cast an absentee ballot. Other states allow either permanent no-excuse absentee voting or casting absentee ballots under a limited set of circumstances.

Absentee ballots – or even permanent absentee ballots – can be requested by contacting a county clerk, county auditor, county registrar, county supervisor of elections or the board of elections, depending on the state. Phone numbers for those offices can be found through a search online.

Early voting

Some type of early voting is offered in all states except Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire. This allows voters simply to decide to vote early.

No-excuse early voting differs from absentee voting in that voters may visit an election official’s office – or in some states, other satellite voting locations – and cast ballots in person.

The time periods for early voting vary by state. The average starting time is about three weeks before Election Day.

All-mail voting

California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington run their elections entirely by mail. These states send a ballot to every registered voter prior to Election Day. In addition, 16 states allow certain elections to be held by mail.

Permanent absentee ballots

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 states provide permanent absentee ballots for at least some voters. Five states provide permanent absentee ballots for all voters: Arizona, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey and Virginia.

The 17 states that offer permanent absentee ballots for at least a limited number of voters are Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin. LL

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