Absentee Ballot Request Form - 2022 State Elections

Absentee Ballots are available to residents by completing the Absentee Ballot Application and returning it to the Town Clerk's Office no later than 7pm Monday the night before the Tuesday election.   A form must be completed for EACH election for which it is needed.   

Absentee Ballots are only available to those who meet the NH Election legal requirement as outlined here: 

New Hampshire’s Constitution limits absentee voting to: “qualified voters who [. . .] are absent from the city or town of which they are inhabitants, or who by reason of physical disability are unable to vote in person . . . .” Part 1, Article 11. RSA 657:1 carries out Part 1 Article 11 by authoring absentee voting for:

“Any person who will be absent on the day of any state election from the city, town, or unincorporated place in which he or she is registered to vote or who cannot appear in public on any election day because of his or her observance of a religious commitment or who is unable to vote there in person by reason of physical disability may vote at such elections as provided in this chapter. A person who is unable to appear at any time during polling hours at his or her polling place because of an employment obligation shall be considered absent for purposes of this chapter. For the purposes of this section, the term "employment" shall include the care of children and infirm adults, with or without compensation.”

“Disability” for election law purposes has the same meaning today as it had pre-pandemic. The nature of the voter’s disability must leave them “unable to vote in person” according to the Constitution and the absentee voting statute.

PUBLIC HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS AND ABSENTEE VOTING

A person can register and vote by absentee if, based on their own health circumstances, medical authorities advise them to avoid going out in public. This applies to:

• voters with symptoms of a communicable disease or illness;
• voters who, due to their own health circumstances, limit public exposure in their day-to-day life as a preventative measure.

These two types of voters can reasonably conclude that a “physical disability” exists within the meaning of RSA 654:16 and 654:17, absentee registration and RSA 657:1, absentee voting.