When voting season rolls around, many Lee students have the tough decision on how to make their vote count.

Two options that voters have to cast their vote from a distance are to file an absentee ballot or to cast their votes during early voting in their home county or state.
Absentee ballots are paper ballots that are mailed back to the Board of Election offices prior to the election.

Each state has a different absentee voting policy; however, 26 states permit ‘no-excuse’ absentee voting. These states allow voters to file an absentee ballot without having to state a reason or excuse for voting this way.

Many voting trend experts have said that providing absentee ballots in a ‘no-excuse’ form may be one way to increase the voter turnout throughout the nation.
Some states require for citizens to fill out an application to receive an absentee ballot prior to the election.

In addition, 23 states allow their citizens to participate in early voting. Early voting differs from absentee voting in that the state usually requires voters to visit an election official’s office or a satellite voting location for them to cast their vote.

Though each state’s policy varies, many states that allow early voting will open the polls to voters 10 to 14 days before Election Day.

When trying to cast a ballot through early voting, the type of election many play a role in weather it is open or not. But, it depend on the state.

However, just because votes are officially cast early, the majority of states don’t count the votes until as early as Election Day or even up to 10 days after the election.
Absentee ballots counted after Election Day are usually only used to help the state decide close elections.