Based on a press release from Veronica Morton-Jones, Circuit Clerk of Greene County, absentee ballots for the March 3, 2020 Presidential, State and Local primary elections are available now for Greene County and across the State of Alabama.
To apply for an absentee ballot, the voter must go to the Absentee Manager’s Office, the Circuit Clerk’s office in the Greene County Courthouse; or on line at the Alabama Secretary of State’s web page: http://www.alabamavotes.gov; or if serving in the U. S. Armed Forces, contact your commanding officer for an application and instructions. The last date to apply for an absentee ballot for the March 3rd primary is Thursday, February 27, 2020, which is five days before the election. All absentee ballots must be returned to the office or postmarked by March 2, 2020. When applying for a ballot, the voter must specify if they want a Democrat or Republican ballot.
To vote an absentee ballot, a voter must meet one of the following requirements:
• Expects to be absent from the county on election day;
• Is ill or has a physical disability that prevents a trip to the polling place;
• Is an Alabama Registered Voter living outside the county, such as a member of the armed forces, a voter employed outside the United States, a college student, or a spouse or child of such a person;
• Is an appointed election officer or poll watcher at a polling place other than his or her regular polling place;
• Expects to work a required shift, 10 hours or more, that coincides with polling hours;
• Is a caregiver for a family member to the second degree of kinship by affinity or consanguinity and the family member is confined to his or her home;
• Is currently incarcerated in prison or jail and has not been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude.
You can use absentee voting as a form of early voting, if you currently think you will be away from the county on election day, you may vote absentee by requesting a ballot by mail or going into the Circuit Clerk’s office and voting there. Then if your circumstances change and you are back in the county on Election Day, then just do not go to your regular voting poll and try to vote, because that will be considered as trying to vote twice, which is illegal.
Your absentee ballot application must be accompanied by a copy of current, valid photo identification – usually a driver’s license or photo voter ID card, issued by the county Registrar of Voter’s office.
Any completed application for an absentee ballot must be returned by the voter in person or sent by mail or commercial carrier. No one, not even a family member, can return another person’s application.
Each application must be mailed separately. Multiple applications cannot be mailed in the same envelope, even if voters live at the same address.
The absentee election manager may not give any person access to completed and filed applications for absentee ballots. This information is not a matter of public record. It should be considered privileged information just the same as voter registration applications.
The absentee election manager shall forward the absentee ballot by US mail to the applicant at their residence address.
Voters must complete all the information on the affidavit on the absentee ballot envelope. If the voter’s affidavit is not signed (or marked with an x), and if the affidavit is not witnessed by two witnesses (18 years old or older) or a notary public, prior to being delivered or mailed, in an outside envelop, to the Absentee Election Manager, the ballot will not be counted.
Based on poll watching during past elections, between 5 and 10 percent of the absentee ballots returned do not have the affidavit signed and filled out correctly and thus are not counted. If you take the time to request an absentee ballot make sure you follow the instructions to vote correctly or your absentee ballot will not be counted.