Absentee and early voting: which one applies and when to request it

JAVAA is the institutionally balanced division of the State Elections Commission charged with administering, receiving, processing and adjudicating absentee and early voting in its various forms: mail voting, in-person early voting, voting in penal and juvenile institutions including the federal prison, voting in hospitals and voting at home. It operates under the Puerto Rico Electoral Code of 2020, Act 58-2020, and under the federal HAVA, UOCAVA and MOVE Act. Under its Institutional Balance Board there are three sub-boards: JAVAA Absentee Voting, JAVAA Early Voting by Mail and JAVAA Early Voting Before an Electoral Balance Board.

For absentee voting three requirements apply: being an active elector in the CEE’s Electoral Registry and in no other jurisdiction, being domiciled in Puerto Rico, and being physically absent on the day of the electoral event. It includes people confined in penal institutions in US states and territories who were sentenced in Puerto Rico’s courts or in the federal District in Puerto Rico and were domiciled here when sentenced. For early voting, the CEE publishes nine categories: elector confined in penal or juvenile institutions in Puerto Rico; candidate or primary aspirant elector; elector in a residential facility; elector with a physical disability or blindness using a wheelchair, crutches or other mobility equipment, or with evident difficulty moving, during the 50 days prior and up to voting day; sole-caregiver elector, the only person available in their household to care for children under 14, people with disabilities or bedridden patients; hospitalized elector or one in a long-term care institution; at-work elector, who must be at their workplace in Puerto Rico away from their home; traveller elector, who learned after the deadline that they would be away on voting day; and elector with easy-access voting at home, including any elector aged 80 or older.

• Being an active elector in the CEE’s Electoral Registry and in no other jurisdiction.Verified against the official source
• Being domiciled in Puerto Rico.Verified against the official source
• For absentee voting: being physically absent on the day of the electoral event, and requesting it on or before 45 days prior to the vote.Verified against the official source
• For early voting: falling within one of the nine published categories, and requesting it on or before 50 days prior to the vote.Verified against the official source
• Requesting it for each vote: it is not a standing enrolment carried from one election to the next.Verified against the official source

• The corresponding application, signed. The CEE states that applications become available, once the event’s dates are calendared, on the agency’s portal or at the Permanent Registration Boards.
• The complete postal address where you will receive the ballots, which the Electoral Code requires in the application.
• If you prefer to receive them by email under absentee voting: the email address, indicated on the application.

1. 1

   Step 1: Decide which of the two applies to you

   If you will be physically outside Puerto Rico on voting day, it is absentee voting. If you are in Puerto Rico but cannot reach your precinct — because you are hospitalized, confined, bedridden, working away from home, caring for someone, or because of age or disability — it is early voting. They are not interchangeable and they have different deadlines.

2. 2

   Step 2: Count backwards: 50 before 45

   Early voting is requested on or before 50 days prior to the vote; absentee voting, on or before 45. It is counter-intuitive: the early-voting deadline closes five days before the absentee one. If you think you might qualify for early voting, that is the date to mark first.

3. 3

   Step 3: Check the nine early-voting categories

   Many people qualify without realising. Beyond the obvious ones — confined, hospitalized, physically disabled — there is the sole-caregiver elector, the only person available in their household to care for children under 14, people with disabilities or bedridden patients; the at-work elector, who must be at their workplace away from home; and easy-access voting at home for any elector aged 80 or older. Read them before ruling yourself out.

4. 4

   Step 4: Get and send the application

   The CEE states that applications become available, once the event’s dates are calendared, on the agency’s portal or at the Permanent Registration Boards. You download it, fill it in, sign it and send it to JAVAA by email at java@cee.pr.gov. Include the full postal address where you will receive the ballots: the Electoral Code requires it.

5. 5

   Step 5: When the ballots arrive

   Under absentee voting you can ask to receive them by email in addition to postal delivery — but even receiving them that way, you will have to print them and return them voted by postal mail — and you can ask for them to be sent to an address in Puerto Rico if you prefer a relative to forward them. Absentee and mail early-voting ballots must be sent via US Postal Service or an authorized postal company, postmarked no later than voting day, and are valid if received at the CEE on or before the last day of the general count. If your ballot does not arrive, JAVAA evaluates and determines whether a second mailing applies: java@cee.pr.gov or (787) 764-5601.

Before the CEE’s Absentee and Early Voting Administrative Board (JAVAA), sending the signed application by email to java@cee.pr.gov. JAVAA’s phone is (787) 764-5601. Applications are published on the CEE portal or at the Permanent Registration Boards once the Commission calendars the event’s dates.

• Confusing absentee with early voting: they are different and early voting closes first.
• Assuming one request lasts forever: it must be requested for each vote.
• Ruling yourself out of early voting without reading the nine categories, including sole caregiver and work.
• Counting the days against a previous cycle’s calendar instead of the current one.
• Mailing the ballot without a postmark dated no later than voting day.
• Trying to register or reactivate from outside Puerto Rico: that is in person at a JIP.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE)

  CEE

  ww2.ceepur.org

• Elector FAQ (CEE)

  CEE

  ww2.ceepur.org

• Directory of Permanent Registration Boards (JIP)

  CEE

  www.ceepur.org