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Vote-by-mail ballot must be turned in by 6 p.m. on Election Day

A sticker on a person's sweater that reads "I Voted Today."
Stephanie Wiechmann
/
IPR
In 2021, Indiana lawmakers extended the time to submit an absentee, vote-by-mail ballot from noon on Election Day to 6 p.m.

Tuesday is Election Day in communities across Indiana. It’s also the deadline for people voting by mail to get their ballots submitted.

If you received an absentee, vote-by-mail ballot for this fall’s election, the deadline to return it to your county election administrator is 6 p.m. on Election Day.

That doesn’t mean putting it in the mail by that time — the ballot must physically be at the county election office by 6 p.m. on Election Day. Which means, if you haven’t mailed it by now, your best bet is delivering the absentee, vote-by-mail ballot in person.

READ MORE: These are the most common mistakes election boards see on mail-in ballot applications, at the polls

If you can’t physically bring the ballot into the election office, there are some people who can do it for you. Those include a bonded courier, your attorney or a member of your family — which is defined in law as a spouse, parent, father- or mother-in-law, child, son- or daughter-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, brother- or sister-in-law, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.