Maryland State Board of Elections Begins Mailing Ballots to Voters

The Maryland State Board of Elections today announced that it has started sending ballots to Maryland voters for the 2020 Presidential General Election. Almost 800,000 ballot packets will be shipped to voters in Maryland over a five day period starting today. To expedite the delivery process, ballots are being shipped to Maryland and then entered directly into the local mail stream as first-class mail.

On Sept. 18 and 19, ballots were mailed to military and overseas voters who requested ballots by mail, and on Sept. 18, emails were sent to military and overseas voters who requested their ballots via web delivery.

The first set of emails to domestic voters who requested a ballot via web delivery were also sent today. The Board will send ballots to these voters from an email address with the prefix “absentee” and the suffix “@marylandelections.us.” For example, if a voter receives an email from absentee3.sbe@marylandelections.us, that is a legitimate email from the Maryland State Board of Elections. Voters who requested that their ballots be emailed are encouraged to look for emails from a “@marylandelection.us” address and to add it to their contact list.

The Board also announced that the first phase of ballot drop boxes will be delivered next week. Boxes for local boards of elections’ offices, early voting locations, and additional locations in the most populous counties will be delivered from Sept. 28 through 30. The next delivery phase will be Oct. 15 through 17 and the final phase will be Oct. 22 through 24. The complete list of ballot drop box locations and their anticipated opening dates is available at: https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2020/PG20_Drop%20Box%20Locations.xlsx

Each Maryland jurisdiction will have at least two ballot drop box locations available to voters. Voters can submit their completed mail-in ballots in any drop box located in their jurisdiction of residence.  Once open, drop boxes will remain open until Election Day, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. In all, 282 ballot drop boxes will be available at 281 locations around the state. Two ballot drop boxes will be available at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board is encouraging voters to cast their ballots by mail. Applications for mail-in ballots have been sent via first-class U.S. Mail to eligible Maryland voters. Applications must be received by Oct. 20.