Military & overseas voters · FPCA · Absentee ballots

Vote by fax from overseas, without a fax machine.

Yes, you can vote by fax if you are a military or overseas voter and your state allows it: FVAP’s 2026–27 guide lists fax return for a voted ballot in 29 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. FVAP stopped forwarding faxes for voters on August 1, 2025, so now you send the fax yourself. Upload your ballot and cover sheet, enter your election office’s fax number, pay $2.99 for 1–5 pages, and keep the delivery confirmation.

Fax your ballot Check your state

General election: Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Every state sets its own deadline for a faxed ballot, so send early.

What changed

FVAP no longer forwards faxes to election offices.

Until August 1, 2025, the Federal Voting Assistance Program ran an email-to-fax relay: you emailed your ballot or form to FVAP, and FVAP faxed it to your election office. That service has ended. As FVAP’s September 2025 newsletter puts it, voters “are no longer able to send an email to FVAP with attached election materials or ballots to be forwarded to localities as a fax.”

FVAP’s own transmission cover sheet now says to fax your election official directly, and points to its election office search for the number. If you have no fax machine, HelpMeFax places that call for you from any phone or computer, and the office receives an ordinary fax.

State by state

Which states accept a faxed ballot?

FVAP’s 2026–27 Voting Assistance Guide lists fax return for a voted ballot in 29 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 21 of those states any military or overseas voter may fax it; in 8 only in the cases shown. 43 states accept the FPCA by fax. The National Conference of State Legislatures counts 32 states plus D.C. and the Virgin Islands as of June 30, 2026. Counts differ because rules change and some permissions are narrow, so open your state’s FVAP page and confirm before you send.

Voted ballot and FPCA return by fax for military and overseas voters, by state, from FVAP’s 2026–27 Voting Assistance Guide
State or territory	Voted ballot by fax	FPCA by fax	Confirm
Alabama	No Mail, or online if you requested your ballot by email or online and are outside the US.	No Mail only.	FVAP page
Alaska	Limited Mail, or fax only if you requested your ballot by fax or online delivery.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
American Samoa	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Arizona	Yes Mail, email, online upload or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Arkansas	No Mail only.	No Mail only.	FVAP page
California	Limited Mail, or fax only if you are overseas or were activated within 7 days of the election.	Yes Mail or fax to register; mail, email or fax to update a registration.	FVAP page
Colorado	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Connecticut	No Mail only.	No Mail only.	FVAP page
Delaware	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
District of Columbia	Yes Mail, email, electronic ballot return or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Florida	Limited Mail, or fax only if you are outside the US.	If registered Mail to register; mail, email or fax to request a ballot once registered.	FVAP page
Georgia	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Guam	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Hawaii	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Idaho	No Mail only.	If registered Mail to register; mail, email or fax to request a ballot once registered.	FVAP page
Illinois	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Indiana	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Iowa	Limited Mail, or email or fax only if you are in a hostile fire area.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Kansas	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Kentucky	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Louisiana	Yes Mail or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Maine	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Maryland	No Mail only.	If registered Mail or online to register; mail, email, fax or online to request a ballot once registered.	FVAP page
Massachusetts	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Michigan	No Mail, or an online portal for some active-duty service members outside the US.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Minnesota	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Mississippi	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Missouri	Limited Mail, or email or fax only if you are in a hostile fire area.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Montana	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	FVAP page
Nebraska	Limited Mail, or email or fax with prior approval from your local election office.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Nevada	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email, fax or the state online system.	FVAP page
New Hampshire	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
New Jersey	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
New Mexico	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
New York	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
North Carolina	Yes Mail, email, online portal or fax.	Yes Mail, email, fax or the state online portal.	FVAP page
North Dakota	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Ohio	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Oklahoma	Yes Mail or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Oregon	Yes Mail, email or fax; an emailed or faxed ballot needs additional forms.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Pennsylvania	No Mail only.	No Mail or email.	FVAP page
Puerto Rico	No Mail only.	No Mail or email.	FVAP page
Rhode Island	Limited Mail, online, or fax only if you requested your ballot by fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
South Carolina	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	FVAP page
South Dakota	No Mail only.	If registered Mail to register; mail, email or fax to request a ballot once registered.	FVAP page
Tennessee	No Mail only.	No Mail or email.	FVAP page
Texas	Limited Mail, or fax only if you are in a hostile fire area.	Yes Mail, email or fax; a faxed FPCA must be followed by a mailed original received within four business days.	FVAP page
U.S. Virgin Islands	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Utah	No Mail or email.	No Mail, email or the state online system.	FVAP page
Vermont	No Mail only.	No Mail or email.	FVAP page
Virginia	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Washington	Yes Mail, email or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
West Virginia	Yes Mail, email, online or fax.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page
Wisconsin	No Mail only.	If registered Mail to register; mail, email or fax to request a ballot once registered.	FVAP page
Wyoming	No Mail only.	Yes Mail, email or fax.	FVAP page

Source: FVAP 2026–27 Voting Assistance Guide, read September 27, 2026; the guide describes its state pages as current as of October 2025. “Limited” means only in the case shown. “If registered” means a new registration must be mailed, but a registered voter may fax the FPCA to request a ballot. The Northern Mariana Islands are not in the guide.

The forms

What you can send by fax.

FPCA — Federal Post Card Application

Standard Form 76. Registers you and requests your absentee ballot, and updates your contact details. Complete a new one each year and whenever your address changes. 43 states accept it by fax, some only once you are registered.

Your voted ballot

Where your state accepts fax return, fax the ballot with a signed secrecy waiver on the cover sheet, plus any certificate your state requires. Check the table first: some states allow it only in limited cases.

FWAB — Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot

Standard Form 186. The emergency backup ballot if your state ballot does not arrive in time. Some states accept it by fax; your state’s FVAP page says how to return it.

Step by step

How to fax your ballot.

1

Check that your state accepts it

Find your state in the table on this page, then confirm on its FVAP page or with your election office. Some states accept a faxed ballot only in limited cases, and some accept the FPCA by fax but not the ballot.
2

Get your election office's fax number

Look it up in FVAP's election office search at fvap.gov/search-offices, or on your state or county election website.
3

Put the pages in order

FVAP's transmission cover sheet, or the one your state provides, goes on top, with the secrecy waiver signed if you are faxing a voted ballot. Then your ballot or form, plus any certificate your state requires. Save them as a PDF or photograph each page.
4

Upload and send

Upload the pages at helpmefax.com, enter the fax number, check the page count and the price, and pay by card: $2.99 for 1–5 pages.
5

Keep the delivery confirmation

Save the emailed delivery confirmation until your state shows your ballot as received.

Photographing pages on a phone? On an iPhone, scan them with the Notes app so they save as a PDF — see faxing from an iPhone. On Android, see faxing from an Android phone. PDF, JPG, PNG and GIF files up to 25 MB each are accepted, and several files become one fax.

Before you press send

The cover sheet and the secrecy waiver.

FVAP’s Transmission Cover Sheet goes on top of everything you fax to an election office. It carries:

Your election office: the city or county board of elections, its fax number, city and state.
You: your full name, telephone number, fax number if you have one, and email address.
The number of pages you are sending, counting the cover sheet itself.
For a voted ballot, your signature and date under: “I understand that by faxing or emailing my voted ballot I am voluntarily waiving my right to a secret ballot”.

If your state supplies its own cover sheet or waiver, use the one it requires. The fax arrives from a HelpMeFax sending number, not a number of yours, so your phone and email on the cover sheet are how the office reaches you. You can leave HelpMeFax’s optional cover page off; the FVAP sheet already carries what the office needs.

Privacy

Is a faxed ballot private?

Your upload is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256), and the fax is a direct call to your election office’s fax line, with no email inbox in between. A faxed ballot is not anonymous, though: the office sees your name with it, which is why the secrecy waiver exists.

HelpMeFax keeps the sent document encrypted for 365 days as your record, then deletes it automatically; today a sent document cannot be deleted sooner. We sell no documents and no data — see our privacy promise.

Voting in the United States

Living in the US? Check before you fax.

Fax return is mainly for military and overseas voters. Service members and their eligible families who are away from their voting residence are covered even when stationed inside the United States. Most other voters living in the US cannot return a voted ballot by fax, although NCSL counts 13 states that extend electronic ballot return options, which can include fax, to voters with disabilities.

Some election offices accept other forms, such as a ballot request, by fax. Ask yours what it accepts before you send anything.

FAQ

Voting by fax.

Yes, if you are a military or overseas voter and your state allows it. FVAP's 2026–27 Voting Assistance Guide lists fax return for a voted ballot in 29 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands; in 8 of those states only in limited cases, such as being in a hostile fire area. The National Conference of State Legislatures, counting as of June 30, 2026, puts it at 32 states plus D.C. and the Virgin Islands. Rules change, so confirm with your election office before you send.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program ended its email-to-fax service on August 1, 2025. Voters can no longer email election materials to FVAP to be forwarded to their election office as a fax. FVAP's transmission cover sheet now says to fax your election official directly, using the fax number in FVAP's election office search.

Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: active members of the uniformed services, the Merchant Marine, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and NOAA, their eligible family members, and other U.S. citizens living outside the United States. Service members away from their voting residence are covered even when stationed inside the United States.

Depending on your state: the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which registers you and requests your absentee ballot; your voted ballot, where your state accepts fax return; and the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB), the emergency backup ballot. 43 states accept the FPCA by fax, some only once you are registered. Not every form can be faxed in every state, so check your state first.

Yes, for a voted ballot. FVAP's transmission cover sheet asks you to sign that you understand that by faxing or emailing your voted ballot you are voluntarily waiving your right to a secret ballot. If your state supplies its own cover sheet or waiver, use the one your state requires.

In FVAP's election office search at fvap.gov/search-offices, or on your state or county election website. Type the number exactly as published. HelpMeFax sends to any US fax number at the domestic rate.

As early as you can. Every state sets its own deadline, and a faxed ballot has to arrive by it; the general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. HelpMeFax retries a busy or unreachable line automatically up to 30 times over about 24 hours, but a retry that succeeds after your state's deadline is still late.

HelpMeFax emails you a delivery confirmation when the election office's fax machine accepts the transmission, and your fax history keeps the receipt: the time, the number you sent to and the page count. Keep it until your state shows your ballot as received; if your state has an online ballot tracker, check it a few days later.

Yes. You send from a web browser on a phone, tablet or computer wherever you are, and the fax is placed to your election office in the United States at the domestic rate. You do not need a fax machine, a phone line or an international calling plan.

One flat price per fax: $2.99 for 1–5 pages, $4.99 for 6–10, $8.99 for 11–25, $14.99 for 26–50, $24.99 for 51–100, then $0.15 per page. Count the cover sheet as a page. The exact price is shown before you pay, by card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover). No subscription.

Mail it early. Overseas uniformed service members can ask a military post office (APO/FPO) to apply the Prepaid Mail Label 11-DoD to a general election ballot for express delivery at no charge. You may still be able to fax your FPCA, and if your ballot does not arrive in time, FVAP's Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot is the backup.

Your upload is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256), and the fax goes straight to your election office's fax line. A faxed ballot is not anonymous: the office sees your name with it, which is why the secrecy waiver exists. HelpMeFax keeps the sent document encrypted for 365 days as your record, then deletes it automatically; a sent document cannot be deleted sooner today.

No. HelpMeFax is an independent fax service operated by HelpMeFax LLC. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the Department of Defense or any election office. For official voting information, use FVAP.gov or your state election website.

HelpMeFax is an independent fax service operated by HelpMeFax LLC. It is not a government agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the Department of Defense or any election office. This page is general information, not legal advice; confirm your state’s rules and deadlines at FVAP.gov or with your election office. Last reviewed September 27, 2026.

Ballot ready? Fax it today.

Upload it with the cover sheet, send it from any phone or computer, and keep the delivery confirmation until your state shows it received. $2.99 for 1–5 pages.

Fax your ballot View pricing