New rules for ballot return in three states with Republican trifectas among changes to absentee/mail-in voting

Three states with Republican trifectas added new definitions of who may return another voter’s ballot in 2024.

Idaho adopted H 599, which stipulates that only election officials, postal workers, common carrier employees, a person paid by the voter, a relative of the voter, a member of their household, or a caregiver may collect or deliver another voter’s voted or unvoted ballot. It also provides that collecting and delivering more than 10 absentee/mail-in ballots is a felony.

Mississippi’s SB 2425 adds definitions of “caregiver,” “family member,” and “household member.” These are the only individuals permitted by state law, other than election officials or postal carriers, to return another voter’s absentee ballot. Mississippi also prohibited the use of ballot drop boxes, changed where absentee/mail-in ballots are counted from the office of the circuit clerk to the county registrar’s office, and authorized anyone required to be on-call on Election Day to vote absentee through HB 1406.

In Louisiana, HB 476 prohibits anyone from submitting more than one marked ballot per election, except for an immediate family member of a voter. Louisiana also adopted SB 155, which provides that only immediate family members or election employees may assist with more than one voter certificate required to be submitted with an absentee/mail-in ballot. It also requires that a witness for such a certificate must be at least 18 years old and must provide a mailing address along with their signature.

Elsewhere in Republican trifectas, Alabama adopted SB 1 , which bans anyone from distributing a prefilled absentee/mail-in application to another voter and prohibits a third party from knowingly receiving a payment or gift for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s application. Tennessee also changed the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot from seven to 10 days before an election through HB 2294 / SB 1967.

Out of states with Democratic trifectas, only Connecticut has adopted a significant change to absentee/mail-in ballot laws. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed HB 5498 on June 6, requiring video recording of ballot drop boxes beginning in 2025, adding a requirement that election clerks record the method by which all absentee/mail-in ballots are receivedand submit this information to the secretary of state, and prohibiting the distribution of more than five absentee/mail-in ballot applications to any individual more than 90 days before the start of an election.

Connecticut also adopted HB 5308 , which allows voters confined in a nursing home to designate someone to deliver them an absentee/mail-in ballot. Both bills had bipartisan support. Connecticut voters will decide whether to adopt no-excuse absentee voting through a ballot measure this November.

This article’s information is based on Ballotpedia’s State of Election Administration Legislation 2024 Mid-Year Report. The report provides insights, analysis, and takeaways from the 3,735 election-related bills we tracked in the first half of this year.