It May Be Too Late To Mail Back Your Ballot. Election Officials Stress Other Options

An election worker takes ballots from voters dropping them off at an official ballot drop box at the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections.

Lynne Sladky / AP

Election officials in many states say it is now too late for voters to return absentee ballots by mail and are encouraging them instead to deliver their ballots by hand or vote in person.

State rules differ about how late ballots can be received and still count. Absentee ballots must be received on Election Day in more than two dozen states, including a handful of key swing states such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, some states approved new rules this year that would allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted, so long as they are received within a specified time window after Nov. 3. Other states already had more generous deadlines on the books.