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Indiana mail-in ballots must be returned by 6 p.m. on Election Day

Partial images of an Indiana absentee ballot.
FILE PHOTO: Justin Hicks
/
IPB News
Indiana absentee, mail-in ballots must be returned to county election administrators by 6 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots postmarked before then, but not received by then, do not count.

Indiana voters who are casting mail-in ballots this fall must get those ballots back to their county election administrator by 6 p.m. on Election Day.

U.S. Postal Service leaders are recommending voters get their absentee ballots in the mail at least one week ahead of their state’s deadline — for Indiana, that means Tuesday, Oct. 29.

That’s because Indiana does not count ballots received after 6 p.m. on Election Day, no matter when you put it in the mail or when it was postmarked.

READ MORE: These are the most common mistakes election boards see on mail-in ballot applications, at the polls

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But you don’t have to return your absentee ballot by mail. You or a family member can bring the sealed, signed voting envelope with ballot inside to an early voting location in your county or to your county election administrator’s office.

Under Indiana law, family members allowed to mail back or return a voter’s absentee ballot are a:

  • spouse
  • parent
  • father-in-law
  • mother-in-law
  • child
  • son-in-law
  • daughter-in-law
  • grandparent
  • grandchild
  • brother
  • sister
  • brother-in-law
  • sister-in-law
  • uncle
  • aunt
  • nephew
  • or niece

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.