From registering to vote to requesting a ballot and every deadline, here’s everything you need to know about how to vote absentee—or vote by mail—in Iowa.
Q. Can anyone vote by mail in Iowa?
A. Yes, anyone can vote by mail in Iowa in 2024. You don’t need any excuse to do so; any registered voter can request an absentee ballot be sent to them. But there are some important things to note about how to do it to make sure your vote counts!
Here are the steps you need to take to vote in the Nov. 5, 2024 election:
Register to vote
If you’re not already, register to vote.
First, check that you’re not already registered to vote from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office here. If you’re not yet, that’s OK—there’s still time! Follow these steps:
- Already have an ID? If you have a valid Iowa driver’s license or nondriver identification, you can register online here.
- No Iowa ID? Print off this form, fill it out, and mail it to your county auditor’s office (find that address here).
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to register, since you’ll also need to request an absentee ballot (more on that below).
Request an absentee ballot
Fill out this absentee ballot request form here, and mail it back to your county auditor’s office.
You can’t request an absentee ballot too early or too late. Your window in 2024 is Aug. 27-Oct. 21. We recommend sooner, rather than later!
- You can’t request an absentee ballot sooner than 70 days before an election. This year, that’s Aug. 27, 2024.
- By law, you have to request a ballot at least 15 days before the election. That deadline this year is Oct. 21, 2024.
After you request a ballot, you’ll have to wait: By law, county auditors can’t send you an absentee ballot in the mail any sooner than 20 days before an election.
Fill it out and send it back
When your county auditor receives your request, once they’re allowed to send ballots, they’ll send out the actual ballot along with instructions for how to fill it out and what to do when you’re done. To have your vote counted, you have to follow those instructions exactly.
Once you get your ballot, read all the instructions, fill it out, and send it back right away.
Again, we recommend not waiting. Mail delivery can be unpredictable, and Iowa lawmakers have mandated that ballots must reach the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day—postmarks now no longer matter.
You can also drop off your absentee ballot in person at the county auditor’s office, or at a ballot drop box (if available in your county).
No more guessing
Want to make sure your ballot arrived? You can.
Track your absentee ballot using this tool from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office to give you peace of mind that your vote was counted.
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Iowans and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at Iowa Starting Line has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Iowan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.
Three key takeaways from the Miller-Meeks-Bohannan results
As we take stock of what happened in 2024 and prepare for the road ahead, the results in the 1st Congressional District show some interesting...
Harris says nation must accept election results while urging supporters to keep fighting
Harris delivered her remarks at Howard University, her alma mater and one of the country's most prominent historically Black schools, in the same...
Aime Wichtendahl makes history again, first trans woman elected to Iowa House
Iowa's first-elected transgender woman, Aime Wichtendahl, made history a second time when she won a seat in the Iowa Legislature. Wichtendahl, a...
We care for us: Iowa places to support as another Trump presidency looms
We care for us: That's the message we want Iowans to carry with them in the immediate aftermath of the election, instead of despair. Starting Line...
Republicans maintain control in Iowa, see small gains on historic majorities
Despite some Democratic wins, Republicans carried the night. They maintain control of the Iowa Legislature and congressional seats. Going into...
Trump wins the White House
In state after state, Trump outperformed what he did in the 2020 election while Harris failed to do as well as Joe Biden did in winning the...
