Vote in
Alabama
Pick a different stateRegister by October 19
The deadline has passed. Ask Alabama what you can still do.
Facts · Read Oct 26Check you are registered. If you are not, do it now.
Go to Alabama registration →Before Election Day
Before Election Day, Alabama offers absentee voting.
You need a reason Alabama accepts to vote absentee. Without one, you vote on Election Day.
To obtain an absentee ballot, write or visit your county Absentee Election Manager (usually the Circuit Clerk). The same listed reasons apply in person as by mail. Applications returned by hand must be received no later than 5 days before the election, and a ballot you hand-deliver yourself must be in the Absentee Election Manager’s office by the close of business, no later than 5 p.m., on the day before the election.
Facts · Read Oct 26Election Day, November 3. Last resort.
Where to vote
Find your polling placeYour polling place is on the Voter ID postcard the Board of Registrars mails you, and under My Voting Information.Read October 26, 2026 from Alabama Secretary of State.
Registered at home but living somewhere else?What Alabama says to do when the address you are registered at is not the address you live at.
We have not confirmed Alabama’s rule for this from an official source yet, so we are not printing one. Check which address you are registered at, then ask that county election office what to do.
All the datesRegistering online, by mail and in person, checking your registration, your polling place, and when polls close in Alabama.
Register by
Monday, October 19, 2026 for every method. A mailed form must be postmarked by then, an in-person registration must be received before close of business, and an online registration must be submitted before 11:59 PM.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register online
Submit before 11:59 PM on October 19, 2026, at alabamavotes.gov. Online registration requires a valid Alabama Driver License or Non-Driver ID card.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register by mail
A mail-in registration form must be postmarked by October 19, 2026.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register in person
Received before the close of business on October 19, 2026, at your county Board of Registrars office.
Facts · Read Oct 26Check you are registered
The state calls this "My Voting Information" and links it from its Alabama Votes page.
Facts · Read Oct 26Early, in person
Checking. Alabama does not mention early in-person voting in its 2026 Voter Guide, on its absentee page, in its voter FAQs, or in its own site search (re-checked September 19, 2026), and it does not state that it has none. Rather than print an absence the state does not state, we are confirming it with the state. Voters with a qualifying reason can vote absentee. Ask your state election office.
Absentee, in person
The state’s 2026 Voter Guide prints October 29 as the last day to apply for an absentee ballot in person and November 2 as the last day to hand-deliver an absentee ballot.
Facts · Read Oct 26Find your polling place
Your polling place is on the Voter ID postcard the Board of Registrars mails you, and under My Voting Information.
Facts · Read Oct 26Polls close
Alabama polling places are open 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. on Election Day. The state notes that polling places located in the Eastern Time Zone may be open 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Eastern Time.
Facts · Read Oct 26What to bringThe ID Alabama accepts, and what to do if you do not have one.
ID your state accepts
- Valid Alabama Driver's License, including ALEA Digital Driver's License (not expired or expired less than 60 days)
- Valid Alabama Non-Driver ID, including ALEA Digital Non-Driver ID (not expired or expired less than 60 days)
- Alabama free Photo Voter ID card
- Valid U.S. Passport
- Valid Military ID
- Valid Tribal ID
- Valid Employee ID from Federal Government, State of Alabama, County, Municipality, Board, or other entity of this state
- Valid student or employee ID from a public or private college or university in the State of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools)
- Valid student or employee ID issued by a state institution of higher learning in any other state
- Valid Federal-issued ID
- Valid State-issued ID (Alabama or any other state)
If you do not have one
Carry a second document
Checking. Alabama publishes a photo ID list and does not publish a second-document list for extra scrutiny, so we are confirming rather than inventing one. Ask your state election office.
Make the plan
Three taps. No account. It stays on this phone.
Roll Call
Lock your date, bring your people, and see how your side is doing.
Who runs your election
The Alabama Secretary of State administers elections in Alabama. Your county or parish election office runs the polling places, counts the ballots, and answers questions about your own ballot. They are the people to call, and the ones whose answer is final.
Statewide offices are the ones every voter in Alabama votes on, and every ballot counts the same from any precinct in the state. District seats are drawn on a map, so where you live decides which of those you vote on.
Some years a ballot also asks voters to change the rules of voting itself. Those questions tend to cover:
- what counts as ID at the polls or with a mail ballot
- how early voting and mail voting work, and by when
- how districts get drawn and who draws them
- how the election office itself is run and funded
We do not tell you what is on your ballot or what to make of it. Your sample ballot carries the official wording, written by the state. Read it at the Alabama Secretary of State.
Mail, honestlyVoting by mail works. It also has rules, and the rules are where ballots get lost.
Your dates are above: when to ask for the ballot, when it has to be back, what happens if a signature is questioned.
- Sign exactly the way you signed when you registered.
- Send it back early, not on the last day.
- Would rather not trust the mail? Check the early in-person window above and go in person.
Who can vote by mail
Reasons Alabama lists, by mail or in person: away from the county on Election Day; illness or disability; living outside the county; working at another polling place; a required shift of 10 hours or more during polling hours; caring for a homebound family member; incarcerated without a disqualifying conviction. The application asks for your reason and a photo ID copy.
Facts · Read Oct 26Ask for your ballot by
October 27, 2026 is the last day to apply by mail, received by your county Absentee Election Manager. In person the last day to apply is October 29, 2026. Alabama absentee voting requires a qualifying reason, and a copy of valid photo ID goes with the application for most voters.
Facts · Read Oct 26It has to be back by
By mail it must be received by noon on Election Day, November 3. By hand, the last day is November 2, by close of business and no later than 5 p.m. The ballot affidavit must be notarized or signed by two witnesses 18 years of age or older. UOCAVA voters have different deadlines.
Facts · Read Oct 26Where to drop it off
The state names no drop boxes.
Facts · Read Oct 26Someone else returning it
Track your ballot
Absentee status shows under My Voting Information. If you are unsure about your application, call your local Absentee Election Manager or Board of Registrars.
Facts · Read Oct 26If your signature is questioned
This is the only fix-it path Alabama publishes for absentee voting. The state does not describe a cure for a missing or defective affidavit, so return your ballot early and get the affidavit witnessed or notarized correctly.
Facts · Read Oct 26The lineIf the line is long, that is not a reason to leave. It is a reason to stay.
Bring water. Bring a charger. Bring a chair if you can carry one, a book, and a friend. Check your bag rules with your county first. If you are in line when the polls close, stay in line: your state decides what happens next, and every state page here prints its own rule in its own words.
- Water
- A charger
- A chair if you can
- Something to read
- A friend
If you are in line when polls close in Alabama
Polls are open 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Get in line before 7 P.M. and stay in it.
Facts · Read Oct 26Time off to vote
Checking. We are confirming the Alabama time-off-to-vote rule against the statute before we print it. Ask your state election office.
Your rightsA provisional ballot, help if you need it, and the number to call from the line.
You can vote a provisional ballot
If your name is not on the list, or you do not have what they ask for, ask for a provisional ballot. In a federal election you have the right to cast one. Ask what you must do afterwards for it to count, and write it down.
You can bring someone to help
You can bring a person of your choice to help you vote, with limits your state sets on who it cannot be. Ask the poll worker for the rule in writing.
Language and disability assistance
Polling places must be accessible, and many places must provide help in other languages. Ask for the accessible machine, the curbside option, or the language help you need.
If someone tries to move you off your vote
Questions about your citizenship, a crowd following you in, someone filming you at the door, a person telling you that you cannot vote: none of that decides your vote. Do not leave the line. Call the hotline from where you stand.
Sources: the Alabama Secretary of State, and the Election Protection coalition for the hotlines below.
Call from the line
If anyone tells you that you cannot vote, or you are turned away, or something feels wrong: do not leave. Call.
- 866-OUR-VOTE866-687-8683 · English
- 888-VE-Y-VOTA888-839-8682 · Spanish and English
- 888-API-VOTE888-274-8683 · Asian languages and English
- 844-YALLA-US844-925-5287 · Arabic and English
Election Protection, administered by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Numbers confirmed against their own site on September 19, 2026.
Your state election office is the final word. We print what its own pages say, with the date we read them.
A few of Alabama’s details are still being confirmed with its election office. Those are marked Checking and link straight to the state.
Read on October 26, 2026 from your state election office, checked by AI against the Alabama Secretary of State pages. Alabama Secretary of State is the final word. See something wrong? Report it.