City Clerk's Office

For federal elections, absentee ballots will be in the mail beginning 47 days before the election. For elections that do not include federal offices, absentee ballots will be in the mail beginning three weeks before Election Day. All absentee ballots are sent to the polls to be counted on Election Day.

Voters may verify their registration, polling place, sample ballot, and absentee ballot status at My Vote Wisconsin.

April 2020 Absentee Drop Boxes

From 9:00am, Wednesday, April 1 through noon on Tuesday, April 7, City of Madison voters can drop absentee ballots in the book drops of the following three public libraries:

• Central Library, 201 W. Mifflin St. (Mifflin St. book drop only)
• Pinney Library, 516 Cottage Grove Road (drive through book drop only)
• Sequoya Library, 4340 Tokay Blvd.

Ballots will be collected daily by City Clerk's Office staff during this time for processing.

Please DO NOT drop books or other library materials in the book drops during this time. We do not want ballots to be damaged. Please keep all library materials at home until the libraries reopen to the public.
All due dates will be extended and no library fines will be charged.

Curbside Absentee Voting

The City Clerk's Office always offers curbside absentee voting for voters with disabilities during in-person absentee voting hours.

Due to COVID-19 precautions for the April 2020 Election, the City of Madison has reserved parking meters on the 200 block of Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard for any City of Madison voter to register and/or vote from the curb.  Just pull up to a parking meter in front of the City-County Building or Madison Municipal Building with a "No Parking - Police Order sign."  If you have a cell phone, you can call the number posted on the sign at the meter to begin the curbside voting process.  Otherwise, wave at one of our election officials standing in front of the building, wearing a bright yellow vest.  Two officials will bring your ballot to your vehicle and will check your voter ID at your vehicle.  If you have your own pen to use, wave it at the officials as they approach your vehicle.  (Note, we are sanitizing clipboards and pens after each use.)

If you had the Clerk's Office mail you an absentee ballot and you need a witness, you may use the curbside voting process for that purpose.

In-Person Absentee Voting

Absentee voting locations are established by the Common Council at least two weeks before absentee voting begins for an election.

In-person absentee voting locations and hours.

Absentee Delivery by Email

Send your absentee request to voting@cityofmadison.com. Be sure to include your name, address at which you are registered to vote, email address to which the ballot should be sent, and a copy or picture of your voter ID (if not already on file in the Clerk's Office). The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5:00 pm the Thursday before the election.

You will receive your ballot and absentee certification statement as attachments to an email message. You will need to print the ballot and certification statement on paper and send them back to the City Clerk's Office through the mail. Absentee ballots must be received in the Clerk’s Office in time for delivery to the polls on Election Day.

Absentee Delivery by Mail

An Absentee Ballot Request form is available for your convenience, but you are not required to use a form.  You may submit an absentee request at My Vote Wisconsin (click on Vote Absentee at the top of the website), or you may send a written request that includes:

Name
Madison address
Address to which the ballot should be mailed
Signature
Copy of voter ID, if not already on file in Clerk’s Office

Send the request via email to voting@cityofmadison.com, or mail the request to:
City Clerk's Office
210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Room 103
Madison, WI 53703

Ballots will be mailed out through the Thursday before the election. Absentee ballots must be received in the Clerk’s Office in time for delivery to the polls on Election Day.

Permanent Absentee Ballot

If you are indefinitely confined because of severe and continued physical illness, disability or infirmities of aging, you can receive an absentee ballot on a permanent basis (no ID needed) by printing out and mailing in this form:

Permanent Absentee Ballot Request

Qualifying Care Facilities

Any voter who resides in a qualifying care facility and requests an absentee ballot will have their ballot brought to their facility by Special Voting Deputies. This process, known as SVD voting, is the exclusive means of absentee voting for occupants of residential care facilities and qualified retirement homes.

Special Voting Deputies (SVDs) are election officials who are trained and deputized by the City Clerk to perform the duties of SVD voting. SVDs will visit each facility two times in the three weeks prior to each election. The scheduled days and times will be publicly noticed and posted at each facility. SVDs must make two attempts to deliver an absentee ballot before that ballot can be mailed to the voter.

View the Schedule of Special Voting Deputy visits to qualifying care facilities for the April 7, 2020 election. (Updated 3/3/2020)

SVD Voting is governed by State Statute 6.875. For more information on SVD voting, please view the Wisconsin Elections Commission guide Absentee Voting in Residential Care Facilities and Retirement Homes.

Madison Voters Temporarily Overseas

You may email your absentee request to voting@cityofmadison.com. Your request should include your name, the address at which you are registered to vote, and the email or street address to which we should send the ballot. If you haven't already submitted a copy of your voter ID to the Clerk's Office, you will need to include a picture or scan of your ID with your request.

Your ballot will be included in the first batch of ballots we mail out. For the fastest service, request that we send your ballot to an email address. Sign the certification statement and have an adult (18 or older) sign the certification as a witness. Your witness does not need to be a U.S. Citizen, but they will need to write their address under the witness signature. You will need to mail the absentee ballot, sealed in an envelope with the certification statement attached to the outside of the envelope.

The envelope bearing the certification statement should be sealed in a larger envelope bearing the words, "Absentee Ballot Enclosed." Your name and ward number (found above your name on your absentee envelope) should be written legibly on the mailing envelope. We must receive your ballot by Election Day.