All Eligible Voters Can Vote By Absentee Ballot for the June 23rd Primary Elections Current New York State law requires voters to meet one of a narrow set of criteria in order to vote by absentee ballot. Acceptable excuses include being absent from your county on the day of the election, a temporary or permanent illness, or being incarcerated for a non-felony crime. If you vote via an absentee ballot, but do not satisfy at least one of the six criteria, you have committed a felony. Under these laws, fear of contracting a deadly virus, or spreading it to others by voting in person, does not qualify New Yorkers to request an absentee ballot. This is a gaping hole in our voting laws – it is why Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued an executive order a few weeks ago to allow all eligible New Yorkers to vote by absentee ballot for the June 23rd primaries, by checking the box for “Temporary illness or physical disability” on the absentee ballot application. The Governor has also directed the New York State Board of Elections (BOE) to mail every eligible voter a postage-paid absentee ballot application for the State and Congressional primary elections in June. Voters MUST fill out the application and mail it back to the BOE in order to receive their ballot. The application must either be personally delivered to your county board of elections no later than the day before the election, or postmarked by a governmental postal service no later than the 7th day before election day. If you are a registered voter in New York City, you can also apply for an absentee ballot online. If you are a registered voter in Westchester, you can email your completed absentee ballot application to [email protected]. You can learn more from the Board of Elections and download the application here.