Absentee Ballots

New Hampshire voters may vote by absentee ballot for specific reasons

You can vote absentee in any election if you are unable to vote in person because:

You will be out of town on election day; or

You have a religious observance that prevents you from voting in person; or

You have a physical disability or illness that prevents you from voting in person; or

You have an employment commitment or must care for an adult or child during the entire time polls are open; or

You are confined in a penal institution for a conviction of a misdemeanor or while awaiting trial; or

You are a member of the Attorney General’s Address Confidentiality Program or are protected by a Domestic Violence Protective Order; or

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm, blizzard, or ice storm warning for your town/ ward for election day, and you have concerns about safely traveling in the storm.

How to request an absentee ballot:

If you qualify to vote absentee, you will need to complete an Absentee Ballot Application and the appropriate affidavit form in pen or number 2 pencil only and return it to your local clerk. You can find contact information for your local clerk using our Voter Information Lookup.

If you are voting absentee due to a disability or illness, you must fill out the Absentee Voter Registration Affidavit - Physically Disabled. 

If you are voting absentee due to absence, you must fill out the Absentee Voter Registration Affidavit – Temporarily Absent. 

How to register by mail:

If you plan on voting absentee but are not registered to vote yet, you can request absentee registration forms and instructions from your clerk before requesting an absentee ballot.

After you have applied for an absentee ballot, you can use the Voter Information Lookup to find out if your clerk has received your request, when the absentee ballot was sent to you, and when your clerk received your completed absentee ballot.

Deadlines for absentee voters:

Completed absentee ballots must be returned to your local clerk by mail or in person.

           Deadline by mail: 5:00 p.m. on election day.

           Deadline in person: By 5:00 p.m. the day before the election.

Accessible Absentee Voting:

If you have a print disability, you may apply for an Accessible Electronic Absentee Ballot. Visit our Voting with Disabilities page for information on how to apply. 

Uniformed & Overseas (UOCAVA) Ballots:

If you are a member of the military or living temporarily overseas visit our UOCAVA page for voting Information.

The ballot may be given personally to the voter or mailed; the official ballot cannot be handed to anyone other than the voter requesting the ballot. Once the ballot is voted, the voter must either return the ballot in person or mail it (according to the time limits set by law) to the Office of Town Clerk,  Po Box 11, Center Barnstead, NH 03225

Ballots may be returned by a spouse, parent, sibling or child from other than the registered voter, with the completion of the following form: Ballot Return Form

RSA 657:17 Procedure by Voter. –
I. After marking the ballot, the voter or the person assisting a blind voter or voter with a disability who is unable to mark his or her ballot shall enclose and seal the same in an inner envelope. The voter shall execute the affidavit on the envelope. A person assisting a blind voter or voter with a disability who needs assistance executing the affidavit shall sign a statement on the affidavit envelope acknowledging the assistance. The voter or the person assisting the blind voter or voter with a disability who needs assistance shall enclose and seal the inner envelope with the affidavit in an outer envelope. The voter or the person assisting a blind voter or voter with a disability shall then endorse on the outer envelope the voter's name, address, and voting place. The absentee ballot shall be delivered to the city or town clerk from whom it was received in one of the following ways:

(a) The voter or the voter's delivery agent may personally deliver the envelope; or
(b) The voter or the person assisting the blind voter or voter with a disability may mail the envelope to the city or town clerk, with postage affixed.

II. As used in this section, "delivery agent" means:

(a) The voter's spouse, parent, sibling, child, grandchild, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, stepparent, stepchild; or
(b) If the voter is a resident of a nursing home as defined in RSA 151-A:1, IV, the nursing home administrator, licensed pursuant to RSA 151-A:2, or a nursing home staff member designated in writing by the administrator to deliver ballots; or
(c) If the voter is a resident of a residential care facility licensed pursuant to RSA 151:2, I(e) and described in RSA 151:9, VII(a)(1) and (2), the residential care facility administrator, or a residential care facility staff member designated in writing by the administrator to deliver ballots; or
(d) A person assisting a blind voter or a voter with a disability who has signed a statement on the affidavit envelope acknowledging the assistance.

III. The city or town clerk, or ward clerk on election day at the polls, shall not accept an absentee ballot from a delivery agent unless the delivery agent completes a form provided by the secretary of state, which shall be maintained by the city or town clerk, and the delivery agent presents a government-issued photo identification or has his or her identity verified by the city or town clerk. Absentee ballots delivered through the mail or by the voter's delivery agent shall be received by the town, city, or ward clerk no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the election. A delivery agent who is assisting a voter who is blind or who has a disability pursuant to this section may not personally deliver more than 4 absentee ballots in any election, unless the delivery agent is a nursing home or residential care facility administrator, an administrator designee, or a family member, each as authorized by this section.

Source: 1979, 436:1. 1983, 220:4. 2010, 317:31. 2015, 166:1, eff. Aug. 25, 2015. 2016, 317:1, eff. Aug. 23, 2016. 2017, 216:8, eff. July 10, 2017. 2019, 261:1, eff. Sept. 17, 2019.

657:22 Cutoff. – In any state election, a town or city clerk shall not accept any completed absentee ballots delivered to the clerk after 5:00 p.m. on election day except as provided in RSA 657:21-a, V and RSA 659:20-a. The clerk shall record absentee ballots received after such time in the statewide centralized voter registration database with the return date and shall mark the ballot as rejected due to absentee ballot receipt after election day. The clerk shall retain the unopened ballot until the time set for the destruction of other state election ballots as provided in RSA 659:100 at which time the envelopes shall likewise be destroyed, unopened and un-examined.