COVID-19 UPDATE: All voters may use the excuse "temporary or permanent illness or disability" to request an absentee ballot.
Voters can only vote absentee/by mail in New York with an approved excuse. Approved excuses include:
- Absent from your county or, if a resident of New York City absent from the five boroughs, on Election Day.
- Unable to appear at the polls due to temporary or permanent illness or disability (temporary illness includes being unable to appear due to risk of contracting or spreading a communicable disease like COVID-19).
- Unable to appear because you are the primary care giver of one or more individuals who are ill or physically disabled.
- A resident or patient of a Veterans Health Administration Hospital.
- Detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony.