Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announces that he is running for U.S. Senate during a news conference at the State Capital Building in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday June 25 , 2019.

During this critical time, Secretary of State John H. Merrill encourages those who are concerned about contracting or spreading the coronavirus to vote via absentee ballot for the upcoming elections.

Absentee ballot applications can be downloaded from the Secretary of State’s website AlabamaVotes.gov or requested by visiting or calling the local Absentee Election Manager’s office. Recently, the absentee ballot applications have been updated to include the return address for the Absentee Election Manager (AEM) based on the applicant’s county of residence. To download an absentee ballot application from the website, click on Absentee Voting then click on Absentee Ballot Application. The applicant is then directed to a list of contact information for each county’s AEM. Below each county’s information there is a fillable PDF of the absentee ballot application with the county AEM’s return address included. Please note the applications must be printed and mailed to the AEM or can be hand-delivered by the voter to the AEM’s office.

Voters who would like to vote absentee for the upcoming August 25 municipal election can also find the municipal absentee ballot application on the Secretary of State website. There is a link to the directory of municipalities to obtain more information on where to send the municipal absentee ballot application.

In addition, the Secretary of State’s website includes a link to view COVID-19 Resources Related to Voting. The deadline to submit applications for the Absentee Ballot for the August 25 Municipal Election is Thursday, August 20. The deadline to submit applications for the Absentee Ballot for the November 3 General Election is Thursday, October 29.