Current with changes from the 2024 Legislative Session
Section 115.287 - Absentee ballot, how delivered1. Upon receipt of a signed application for an absentee ballot and if satisfied the applicant is entitled to vote by absentee ballot, the election authority shall, within three working days after receiving the application, or if absentee ballots are not available at the time the application is received, within five working days after they become available, deliver to the voter an absentee ballot, ballot envelope and such instructions as are necessary for the applicant to vote. Delivery shall be made to the voter personally in the office of the election authority or by bipartisan teams appointed by the election authority, or by first class, registered, or certified mail at the discretion of the election authority, or in the case of a covered voter as defined in section 115.902, the method of transmission prescribed in section 115.914. Where the election authority is a county clerk, the members of bipartisan teams representing the political party other than that of county clerk shall be selected from a list of persons submitted to the county clerk by the county chairman of that party. If no list is provided by the time that absentee ballots are to be made available, the county clerk may select a person or persons from lists provided in accordance with section 115.087. If the election authority is not satisfied that any applicant is entitled to vote by absentee ballot, it shall not deliver an absentee ballot to the applicant. Within three working days of receiving such an application, the election authority shall notify the applicant and state the reason he or she is not entitled to vote by absentee ballot. The applicant may file a complaint with the elections division of the secretary of state's office under and pursuant to section 115.219.2. If, after 5:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday before an election, any voter from the jurisdiction has become hospitalized, becomes confined due to illness or injury, or is confined in an intermediate care facility, residential care facility, or skilled nursing facility on election day, as such terms are defined in section 198.006, in the county in which the jurisdiction is located or in the jurisdiction of an adjacent election authority within the same county, the election authority shall appoint a team to deliver, witness the signing of and return the voter's application and deliver, witness the voting of and return the voter's absentee ballot. If the election authority receives ten or more applications for absentee ballots from the same address it shall appoint a team to deliver and witness the voting and return of absentee ballots by voters residing at that address, except when such addresses are for an apartment building or other structure wherein individual living units are located, each of which has its own separate cooking facilities. Each team appointed pursuant to this subsection shall consist of two registered voters, one from each major political party. Both members of any team appointed pursuant to this subsection shall be present during the delivery, signing or voting and return of any application or absentee ballot signed or voted pursuant to this subsection.3. On the mailing and ballot envelopes for each covered voter, the election authority shall stamp prominently in black the words "FEDERAL BALLOT, STATE OF MISSOURI" and "U.S. Postage Paid, 39 U.S.C. Section 3406".4. No information which encourages a vote for or against a candidate or issue shall be provided to any voter with an absentee ballot.Amended by 2022 Mo. Laws, HB 1878,s A, eff. 8/28/2022.Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, SB 592,s A, eff. 11/7/2018.Amended by 2015 Mo. Laws, SB 34,s A, eff. 6/25/2015.Amended by 2013 Mo. Laws, SB 116,s A, eff. 7/1/2014.L. 1977 H.B. 101 § 9.030, A.L. 1982 S.B. 526, A.L. 1983 S.B. 234, A.L. 1985 H.B. 620, A.L. 1988 H.B. 933, et al., A.L. 2002 S.B. 675, A.L. 2003H.B. 511 , A.L. 2010H.B. 1524 & A.2260