Last Updated: 03/11/2025

Ballot By Mail Request

To access: Ballot By Mail > Process ABBM's > View Image > {voter}

On the Ballot By Mail Request dialog you can:

Record a voter's request(s) for mail ballots.
Maintain addresses where mail ballots are to be sent.

The type is shown in the Type box and, in the case of the All Elections type, all elections for which the voter is eligible will be selected. For a single request or a request for a limited ballot, you will need to select the Request field for each election where the voter wants a mail ballot.

The box in the center of the dialog lists the elections whose status is Open, Active, or Return Processing Only, showing the voter's Ballot By Mail status for each election. A blank status indicates the voter is eligible to vote in the election but has not requested a mail ballot. When you first access the dialog, the requests are sorted by election date with the most future election first. To sort by another criterion, click the column heading of the column you want to sort by.

The buttons in the Change Address column let you add a default ballot address (if used by your county) or a Ballot Address for This Election. Double-click an Add Address or Change Address button to open the Ballot By Mail Addresses dialog where you can add or update an address. Note that if you change the Default Ballot Address for one request, it changes this address for all requests. The Ballot Address for This Election is for the selected request only.

Fields and Controls on this Dialog

Save	Saves the request without printing an address label or Ballot By Mail Information Sheet. If you want to print these documents, click Save and Print instead. Approves and accepts the request for the selected election(s). The ABBM image and signature clip are indexed to the voter's record and the Voter Activity Date is updated and displayed on the Activity Tab in Voter Maintenance. If the ABBM request method is Email or Fax, the ABBM request is sent automatically to the Pending Requests Queue. Important: If the request method is E-mail or Fax, an absentee ballot is not scheduled for delivery until you receive a signed paper copy of the ABBM. Note: The system displays a warning if the date requested is after the 30 day deadline for one or more selected elections. You have the option of accepting the request with the date entered or returning to the dialog to enter a different date or reject the request. If the ABBM being processed was delivered by mail by a voter who previously requested an ABBM via email or fax for the same election, when the method is changed to Mail and the request is saved, the status for that election is updated to Already Requested. If saving a request after the book closing date for a selected election, the assigned precinct and address for the request is the voter's precinct and address at the time of book closing.
Save and Print	Saves the request and prints a Ballot By Mail Information Sheet to your default printer. You can use this document to verify the correct information was entered into the database. Some counties attach the sheet to the Ballot By Mail Request, if a paper request is available.
Reject	Reject the Ballot By Mail Request and select one of the following reasons: Address Within County Election Selection Unclear Incomplete Witness Info: Address or Printed Name Incomplete Witness Info: Relationship Incomplete Witness Info: Unable to Make Mark Invalid Mailing Address Jail - No Address Missing Disability Affirmation No Party No Reason No Residence Address No Signature Not 65 years of age or older Not Properly Delivered Not Registered Online Cure Available - Application DL/SSN # Does Not Match Voter Registration Online Cure Available - Application Does Not Contain DL/SSN # Received After Deadline to Apply Received Earlier than 60 Days of Jan/Feb Election Voter Registration Record Does Not have DL/SSn# Other Note: Use the Other rejection reason in the following situations: Voters requesting a party for a primary election that is different from the party for which they have already voted in the current calendar year. Voters requesting to vote for an election in the same group as an election for which they have already voted. The following occurs: The Voter Activity Date is updated to the current date and displayed on the Activity Tab in Voter Maintenance. A new row is added to the Ballot By Mail Tab in Voter Maintenance indicating the request was rejected. A notice of rejection, including the rejection reason, is scheduled to send to the voter.
Utilities > Local Printer Options	Opens the Local Printer Options dialog where you can select a label printer and page printer for your workstation.
Default Ballot Address	Opens the Ballot By Mail Addresses dialog where you can enter addresses to which ballots should be sent other than the voter's mailing or residence address.
Mil Dep	Select this check box to turn on the military dependent setting for this voter. Voters with the military dependent setting are treated the same as military voters; that is, they are included in the mailing lists and report totals of military voters. Note that both military settings (Military and Mil Dep) cannot be selected; you must choose one or the other.
Military	Select this check box to turn on the military setting for this voter. The military setting is used for reporting purposes; it does not ensure that the voter will be included in early batches of mail ballots sent to overseas voters. To be included in the early overseas batch, the voter's Ballot By Mail address must be set up a particular way for overseas. See Addresses for Overseas Voters for more information. If you change this setting, all requests made after the change will have the new setting, but requests made prior to the change will retain the old setting. In the voter's registration record, the Military setting can be changed for an individual mail ballot request, without affecting the setting here. See Ballot By Mail Adjustments for more information.
Absentee Status	Permanent—A voter who is expected to Ballot By Mail indefinitely. This status is typically used for voters who have asked to receive the annual ABBM each year. Only voters that are voting by mail on the grounds of age or disability may submit an Annual ABBM. This status allows voters to request mail ballots for all or select elections held through the end of the calendar year. Temporary—A voter who wants to Ballot By Mail in one or more elections but who has not asked to receive the annual ABBM. The Voter Focus administrator has the option of resetting the absentee status of Temporary voters to Cancelled at the end of an election year. (See Clear Temporary Ballot By Mail Statuses.) Cancelled (or no status selected)—The voter has no mail ballot requests in their record. FPCA Applicant—A mail ballot voter who has requested ballots using the Federal Post Card Application form. The FPCA form allows military voters, their dependents, and civilian voters residing outside the United States to make a single request for mail ballots through the end of the calendar year unless the voter indicates a shorter time period or a specific election in which they want to vote. Note: The voter's FPCA Applicant status does not remain in their voter registration record should they change their residence to another county. If the voter wants to maintain FPCA status, they will need to submit another FPCA form to the elections office in their new county. The FPCA Applicant status reverts to a blank status when the FPCA request expires at the end of the calendar year.
E-Mail	If the voter provided an email address, enter it here. The system will attempt to validate the email address by verifying it contains proper syntax, such as an @ sign before the domain name. This doesn't guarantee that the email address is valid, but it will identify those that cannot be mailed by your SMTP server. The email address entered here will be used by the Email run for voters requesting delivery of their ballot by email. It will also be used for the list-of-candidate runs. You can create an email message from yourself to the voter by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and clicking the email address. This feature requires that your workstation have an email client such as Microsoft Outlook installed. Web based email systems are not supported for these "one-off" emails. Email addresses are reported in the reports Absentee Status for all Absentee Voters, Absentee Status for Email/Fax Delivery Voters, and the Unsent Email/Fax Absentee Ballots. Note: Voter email addresses can be made available to candidates and political parties, but they are exempt from public records requests by other entities. When creating a report or export file in response to a public records request, you should remove the email addresses from the report/export file before releasing it to the requestee.
Type	Single Election—You can record a request for one or more specific elections by checking the Request check box for the election(s). All Elections—Automatically selects the Request check boxes for all elections listed in the current calendar year for which the voter is eligible and enters a date in the Expiration fields. If the voter does not wish to vote in a specific election, you can clear the Request check box for that election. Limited—Select for applications for limited ballots by mail. Note: Processing an FPCA application automatically submits an all-elections request for the voter. See Process FPCA Applications to learn how. If a voter previously made an all-elections request, processing undeliverable mail with no change of address or an out-of-state address automatically triggers the cancellation of any outstanding requests for future elections (unless a ballot has already been delivered) and schedules a Canceled Requests Notice to be sent to the voter. You can select a party. If you do not select a party, you can request only the elections that are not primary. If a party is selected, you can request only the primary elections that match the party and any other non-primary elections. The voter's political party is set by the system when a ballot is returned for a primary election. Once a mail ballot with a party affiliation has been returned and recorded, the party for that voter cannot be changed for the remainder of elections during the calendar year. Party affiliations can be cleared at the end of every calendar year in List Maintenance > List Maintenance Tasks. When an election that was not present at the time of processing is added, the system automatically adds a request for the voter (if eligible for the election) using the ABBM information previously entered.
Requested Delivery	Select the delivery method to be used when no delivery method has been specified for an election. The delivery method specified for a voter's previous Ballot By Mail Request is selected by default. If this is the first Ballot By Mail Request for the voter, the default value is Mail. If the voter wants a different method of delivery for an election, the delivery method for that election can be changed on the Ballot By Mail Adjustments dialog, which is accessed from the Ballot By Mail tab in the voter's registration record. Mail—If the voter provided an address, you must enter it on the Ballot By Mail Addresses dialog. To open this dialog, click the Add Address button in the Change Address column in the list of elections. This is the only available option for the Single Election and Limited request types. Fax—For fax delivery, you must enter the voter's fax number on the Ballot By Mail Addresses dialog. To open this dialog, click the Add Address button in the Change Address column in the list of elections. Email—For email delivery, you must enter the voter's email address in the E-Mail field. Note: Only UOCAVA voters can receive ballots by email or fax.
How Requested	Select the way the voter submitted the ballot request: Mail Fax E-mail FWAB Online
Reason	Select the reason why the applicant is able to vote by mail from the following options: 65 years of age or older Disability Expected absence from the county (available only for Single Election type) Confinement in jail (available only for Single Election type) Expected to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day Is civilly committed under Chapter 841, Health and Safety Code Note: If you select 65 years of age or older, the system validates the voter's age using the voter's birth date. A warning displays if the voter's age is not yet 65.
Out of County	If the reason selected is Expected absence from the county, you must set the Start and End dates, as indicated on the ABBM.
Date Requested	This field displays the current date and time. If the request was received earlier than today, change the date to reflect the actual date you received the request. The date you enter will stick as the default request date for subsequent requests for this voter until you change the date or restart the program. After a restart, this field reverts to the current date and time.
Comment	A 25-character field for user notes. Should you need more space than the 25 characters provided, type See Communication Log in the Comment field. Then go to the voter's record and create an office note.
Expiration	The field indicating the expiration year defaults to the end of the calendar year and displays only for the All Elections request type. This field will be cleared if you deselect the Request check box for an election.
Request Status	Indicates the current status of each request. Possible statuses include: Ballot By Mail option not set for this election—The election has not been set up for mail ballots. (This is done in ELECTIONS > Maintain Election Settings > Election Maintenance > Ballot By Mail Requests.) Already Requested—If the voter already has a Ballot By Mail Request for this election. Election is After the Next General—If the election occurs after the end of the calendar year of the second general election, which will be after the all-elections request has expired. Request Cancelled—If the voter cancels their previous request for a specific election Voter not in the city—If the voter does not reside in the city where a city election is scheduled. Voter's precinct not voting—If the voter's precinct is not voting in the election. Pending—If the request method is E-mail or Fax, an absentee ballot will not be scheduled for delivery until the signed paper copy of the ABBM is received. Already Requested an Election in this Group—The election is grouped with one or more other related elections and the voter has already requested a ballot for an election in the group. Grouping elections is recommended for primary and primary runoff elections as well as any elections for which party-specific ballots will be issued to ensure that voters can only vote in one party’s election. For more information, see Election Maintenance - Group.
Change Address/Add Address	Click to open the Ballot By Mail Addresses dialog where you can enter a default ballot address for all elections (if you county permits this type of address) or a Ballot Address for this Election.
Request	Select to record a Ballot By Mail Request for specific elections. A voter's party affiliation is set for the current calendar year when the first ballot affiliated with a party is returned and recorded. Until this occurs, you can select multiple elections in the same group. For information about why some elections cannot be selected, see About Ballot By Mail Request Validation.
Print Request	Select to print a Ballot By Mail Information Sheet when you save the dialog.
Witness and Assistant Information	Use this area if a person witnessed the signature mark or submitted the ABBM request on the voter’s behalf. After entering the requestor's name and address, in the Relationship field, select one of the available options: When the request is made by the voter or the ballot is picked up by the voter, this field should show Self. To enter a request from someone other than the voter, the person must be a member of the voter's family (one of the options listed in the field) or their legal guardian.