Mississippi voters who meet certain qualifications can cast absentee ballots in person or by mail for this year’s presidential, congressional, judicial and regional elections.

Mississippians can cast absentee ballots in person until Nov. 2 or by mail so long as the ballot is postmarked by Nov. 5.

Who Can Vote Absentee In-Person?

  • Any qualified Mississippi voter who will be outside of their county of residence on Election Day
  • Students and faculty of schools and universities who will be away from the county they vote in on Election Day
  • Any voter aged 65 or older
  • Members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation and their spouses who will be away from the county they vote in on Election Day
  • Voters who are employees of Mississippi’s congressional delegation who will be away from their county of residence on Election Day
  • Any voter with a temporary or permanent physical disability that may impair them from voting on Election Day
  • A parent, spouse or dependent of a hospitalized person with a temporary or permanent physical disability may cast an absentee ballot if they will be with the disabled person on Election Day AND the disabled person is hospitalized outside of the parent, spouse or dependent’s county of residence or more than 50 miles away from their residence.

When is Absentee Voting Available?

Voters can cast in-person absentee ballots on Monday through Friday at their local county circuit clerks’ offices. Clerks’ offices will also be open for absentee voting from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Nov. 2.

How to Vote Absentee In-Person

If you plan to vote absentee in-person ahead of the election, visit the circuit clerk’s office in the county where you are registered to vote to get an absentee voting application and ballot. Bring your photo ID for the clerk to verify your identity (the circuit clerk can also provide voters who do not have an accepted form of ID with a free voter ID). The clerk will check to make sure you are a registered voter, and if so, you will fill out your application and ballot and seal them in the same envelope.

You will sign the elector’s certificate on the envelope, and the clerk will sign it as a witness before you drop the absentee ballot envelope into a sealed box.

I voted Absentee in Hinds County - Vote Here
Only qualified voters who meet certain conditions can cast absentee ballots in Mississippi. Photo by Kristin Brenemen

Who Can Vote Absentee By Mail?

  • People who are incarcerated and not convicted of one of the 23 disenfranchising crimes
  • Any voter who is temporarily living outside of their county of residence and needs a ballot mailed to an address outside of the county
  • Any voter with a physical disability whose attendance to vote in person could cause hardship or danger to themselves or others 
  • A parent, spouse or dependent of a hospitalized person with a temporary or permanent physical disability may cast an absentee ballot by mail if they will be with the disabled person on Election Day AND the disabled person is hospitalized outside of the parent, spouse or dependent’s county of residence or more than 50 miles away from their residence.
  • Any voter age 65 or older

Voters can cast in-person absentee ballots on Monday through Friday at their local county circuit clerks’ offices. Clerks’ offices will also be open for absentee voting from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Nov. 2.

How to Vote Absentee by Mail

Call your county circuit clerk’s office to ensure you can vote by mail-in absentee ballot. If the clerk approves, you can request an application for the clerk to mail an absentee ballot to you. 

Once you receive the application in the mail, the clerk will ask you to confirm the reason for which you are applying to vote by mail. You need to get an “official authorized to administer oath,” like a public notary, to sign your ballot as a witness. People who are physically disabled do not have to follow this rule and instead can get someone who is over 18 years old to witness/sign their application. After you fill in the application, mail it to the circuit clerk.

If you complete the application correctly, the circuit clerk will mail your absentee ballot to you within one business day. You will need to fill out your ballot secretly with a witness nearby. Place your ballot in the envelope provided by the circuit clerk, seal it and complete the voter’s affidavit on the back. Then “an official who is authorized to administer (an) oath,” such as a public notary, must witness/sign the envelope. The ballot will come with instructions on who qualifies as an “official authorized to administer oaths or witness.” People with temporary or permanent physical disabilities can get a person over 18 to witness/sign the envelope.

Lastly, mail your absentee ballot in the sealed envelope to the circuit clerk’s office. Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 5.

If Election Day is close to the day you are scheduled to apply to vote absentee, the clerk may send you the application and ballot at the same time for you to mail together.

Military and Overseas Voters

Mississippi voters and military service members who live overseas can vote by email.

Contact the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Elections Hotline at 1-800-829-6786 or send an email to UOCAVA@sos.ms.gov for more information.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Voters must register 30 days before an election to be able to cast a ballot on Election Day in Mississippi. Monday, Oct. 7, was the deadline to register to be able to vote in this year’s Nov. 5 election.

Mississippi’s voter-ID law requires voters to bring an accepted form of photo identification to cast a ballot on Election Day. Find more information on voter ID here.

More information about voting is available at sos.ms.gov.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

For more on elections and voting, visit the Mississippi Free Press Voting 2024 page.

State Reporter Heather Harrison has won more than a dozen awards for her multi-media journalism work. At Mississippi State University, she studied public relations and broadcast journalism, earning her Communication degree in 2023. For three years, Heather worked at The Reflector student newspaper: first as a staff reporter, then as the news editor and finally, as the editor-in-chief. This is where her passion for politics and government reporting began.
Heather started working at the Mississippi Free Press three days after graduation in 2023. She also worked part time for Starkville Daily News after college covering the Board of Aldermen meetings.
In her free time, Heather likes to sit on the porch, read books and listen to Taylor Swift. A native of Hazlehurst, she now lives in Brandon with her wife and their Boston Terrier, Finley, and calico cat, Ravioli.