The Vote by Mail Balloting Process

1. Verify voter registration in Voter Services
2. Fill out on-line application to vote by mail
3. Receive Vote by Mail ballot packet **
4. Return Vote by Mail ballot packet
5. Accept/return Vote by Mail packet ***
6. Ballot ready to cast on election day

** The first day to mail ballots to voters within the United States is 40 days before the Election. 
There are two ways to complete an application for ballot to Vote by Mail.
Click on the "Click Here For On - Line Application" link, verify your registration, and fill out the online application or you can download the Mail-in application.

***Vote by Mail ballot packets must be complete. They are often returned because the application is not signed or the application is not included or no signature on affidavit or ballot not in official affidavit envelope. 

You need to verify your voter registration to get an Application to Vote by Mail. 
After we receive your application, a packet with an Official Ballot, Instructions for Voting, certificate envelope, and a return mailing envelope will be mailed to you. Our office will not mail ballots more than 40 days or less than five days prior to the election. 
When you get your Vote by Mail ballot packet, follow all instructions on how to vote and return the ballot to the County Clerk's office. Your ballot must be postmarked by election day and received within 14 days after the election. If you personally deliver to the County Clerk's office, the ballot must be received no later than Election Day.

If you are registered* to vote in Madison County, you are eligible to cast a ballot by mail.

In addition, the following unregistered voters are eligible to vote by mail:

1. Members of the Armed Forces or Merchant Marine and their spouses and dependents whether serving in the United States or abroad whose permanent residence is in Madison County;
2. U.S. citizens and their spouses or dependents, whose permanent residence is in Madison County but who will be temporarily residing abroad on election day;
3. U.S. citizens (not their spouses or dependents) who maintained a residence in Madison County immediately prior to their departure from the United States.

You can vote in-person from the 40th day before the election through the day before the election. Any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person at the Madison County Clerk's office.

Members of the Uniformed Services and their family members or U.S. citizens residing overseas whose last known address is in Madison County and wish to vote by mail may do so by completing an FPCA (Federal Post Card Application) then emailing, faxing, or mailing the form to: Madison County Clerk's Office, P.O. Box 218, Edwardsville, IL 62025.  By completing this application, you will automatically be sent a vote by mail ballot for one calendar year.

Click here for more information and the FPCA form.

Email to: absentee@co.madison.il.us
or
Fax to:    618-692-8903
or
Mail to:   Madison County Clerk's Office
               P.O. Box 218
               Edwardsville, IL 62025

• A voter requests an application to Vote by Mail
• We send the voter an application with instructions
• The voter fills out the application and sends it to us.
• We enter the application into the voter registration system.
• We send the voter the ballot packet with instructions.
• The voter votes the ballot and seals it in the ballot envelope.
• The voter provides the sealed ballot envelope to us with applicable affidavits in the mail envelope provided.
• We receive the mail envelope and log receipt in the voter registration system.
• We keep the ballot in the sealed envelope until Vote by Mail ballot processing.
• The ballot is scanned into the tabulator.
• After the polls close the scanned ballots are tabulated.
• Vote by Mail ballots results are reported to the public as part of the precinct results after the polls close on Election Day.

The County Clerk’s Office provides election judges to conduct in-person Nursing Home voting to (registered) residents at those facilities who wish to vote.  Voters must be a permanent resident registered at the nursing home address.

Illinois State Statute requires voters who are permanently disabled to complete an Application for Absentee Voter's 5 Year Identification Card form* along with an Affidavit of Attending Physician* in order to automatically be sent a Vote by Mail application for every election within 5 years after we receive the application.  

Click here* for an application, fill out the first page and have your doctor fill out the second page and mail it to:

Madison County Clerk P.O. Box 218 Edwardsville, IL 62025

*Form must be notarized

If you enter the hospital fourteen days or less before an election, you can have a ballot delivered to you. Contact our office at 618-692-6290 to find out more.

You may authorize any person to return your ballot to the County Clerk's office as long as you sign the affidavit on the back of the envelope authorizing that person to do so.

MYTH:  If I leave something blank on my ballot, my ballot won’t be counted.

FALSE!  If you don’t make a choice for a contest, no vote is recorded for that contest only. The rest of the ballot still counts. You can vote for as many or as few contests on your ballot as you choose.

MYTH:  Vote-by-mail ballots are thrown out if they arrive after Election Day.

FALSE!  County election officials will process and count all valid vote-by-mail ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive no later than 14 days after the election.

MYTH:  Vote-by-mail ballots are only counted if there is a close race. 

FALSE!  County election officials will process and count all valid vote-by-mail ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive no later than 14 days after the election.

MYTH:  If you mail ballots to voters, people will ask for “replacement ballots” and vote multiple times or duplicate the ballot and vote multiple times.

FALSE!  Ballot envelopes are barcoded to the individual voter. Upon return, only one ballot from any voter is accepted - the first one in. Others are rejected – and if criminal intent is suspected, the voter could be prosecuted. Ballots in an envelope with no barcode are rejected. 

MYTH:  Anyone can intercept the mail and vote someone else’s ballot.

FALSE!  Voter validation is key, and the recommended best practice today is signature verification. This means every return ballot envelope is signed by the voter, and each signature is validated based on official signatures already on file – e.g. the voter’s registration document, prior election ballot envelopes, motor vehicle transactions, etc. Signature judges can be trained utilizing best practices from handwriting experts, including many from law enforcement.

If the signature doesn’t match, the voter is contacted immediately and given multiple paths to resolve the discrepancy. This “cure” period extends 14 days after Election Day to allow all votes to be counted. 

Stealing a mailed-out ballot is a crime. And if you don’t receive your ballot, or lose it, you can simply contact us for a replacement. 

MYTH:  If you mail out ballots non-citizens will be able to vote and so will deceased people.

FALSE!  Ballots only go to active registered voters. The question of U.S. citizenship is handled during the voter registration process, which occurs before a ballot can be mailed. Illinois has automated processes to regularly match death records to the voter registration lists to prevent ballots going to a deceased voter.

MYTH:  Voters move around and don’t update their addresses, leaving ballots floating around that other people can use.  

FALSE!  Vote-by-mail ballots are non-forwardable. And if someone attempts to vote another person’s ballot – again, a felony – they’ll likely fail. (See Myth #4’s answer.) 

Illinois utilizes automated address updates through voter registration procedures and updates from the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) database. Also, Illinois is part of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) to share data and ensure proactive address updates among states. Election officials automatically update voter registration information when they move, but then allow them to opt-out - rather than forcing them to “opt-in” to register at their new address. 

MYTH:  If people can’t make an effort and vote in-person, they don’t deserve to vote.

FALSE!  Voting is a right. We get that right with our citizenship. We don’t have to requalify for it by passing a test or paying a poll tax. (Thank you, Supreme Court). Studies also show that voters with a mail ballot vote farther “down the ballot,” as they have more time to research and become informed about the issues and candidates on their ballots. Data shows that higher use of mailed-out ballots helps close the “disabled voter participation gap.” 

MYTH:  Encouraging more convenient voting options such as voting-by-mail is a plot from the political left. 

FALSE!  Utah, the 4th full Vote at Home state, is decidedly “red.” Republicans also dominate Montana and Arizona, where 70% of voters automatically are mailed their ballots as “permanent absentee” voters. Nebraska and North Dakota, also Republican-dominated states, have also expanded the use of vote at home options. While Oregon and Washington, the first two states where VAH initially took hold, are today more “blue than red,” both states have elected Secretaries of State who are Republicans – and are big fans of this system. 

MYTH:  It is so easy to divert ballots.  People will do it and only get a slap on the wrist if caught.