🗳️ How to Fax Your Ballot as a Stateside Service Member
If you are on active duty and stationed away from your home state, you are a UOCAVA voter even inside the United States, but your home state decides whether you may return the voted ballot by fax. For the 3 November 2026 general election, 21 states and the District of Columbia accept faxed ballots from any UOCAVA voter, a few allow it with conditions, and many do not. Fax only to your own local election office, for $2.99 for up to 3 pages.
📋 In This Guide
You Are Covered Even Inside the US
The federal voting law for military and overseas voters, UOCAVA (52 U.S.C. 20310), covers an "absent uniformed services voter": a member of a uniformed service on active duty who, because of that duty, is away from the place where they are otherwise qualified to vote. It does not require you to be outside the country, so a service member from Ohio stationed in Texas is covered. The uniformed services are the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and NOAA. Merchant marine members are covered, and so are spouses and dependents who are away for the same reason.
Being covered does not mean you may fax. Federal law requires states to send blank ballots electronically when you ask, but each state decides how a voted ballot may come back. FVAP also no longer forwards faxes: it ended its fax service on 1 August 2025, so you must fax your local election office directly.
The rule: fax your voted ballot only if your home state allows fax return for your situation, and only to your own county, city or town election office, at the number in your ballot instructions or on that office's own site.
Which States Accept a Faxed Ballot
These lists come from the FVAP 2026-2027 Voting Assistance Guide for each state. Rules vary and can change, so please confirm with your local election office before you send.
Fax allowed for any UOCAVA voter: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia. In New Jersey, if you send your ballot by fax you must also mail it immediately to the Board of Election; the mailed ballot must be postmarked by 3 November 2026 and received by the sixth day after. In Oregon, additional forms are required when you return a ballot by fax or email.
Fax allowed with a condition: Alaska, only if you requested your ballot by fax or online delivery. Nebraska, only with prior approval from your local election office. Rhode Island, only if you requested your ballot by fax.
Fax usually not available to stateside service members: California allows fax only if you are overseas or were called to military service within the US on or after the seventh day before Election Day, and you must also fax an Oath of Voter that waives a secret ballot. Florida allows fax only from outside the US. Iowa allows it only for overseas uniformed service members or voters in a hostile fire area. Missouri and Texas allow it only in a hostile fire area.
No fax return of a voted ballot: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. If your state is on this list, mail your ballot as your instructions say.
The Deadline for 3 November 2026
The 2026 general election is on Tuesday 3 November 2026. In most fax states, a faxed ballot must be received by the close of polls on Election Day, in your home county's local time, not the time where you are stationed. Some examples from the FVAP guides: Washington 8 PM Pacific, Alaska 8 PM Alaska time, North Carolina and West Virginia 7:30 PM, and Indiana 6 PM. Rhode Island accepts ballots received by 4 PM on 10 November 2026, and New Jersey uses the postmark rule above together with the mailed copy.
If you made a timely request and your state ballot has not arrived, the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot is the backup; if your state ballot also arrives in time, the write-in ballot is not counted. See how to fax the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, and for next year's registration and ballot request, see how to fax the FPCA.
What to Put on the Cover Page and Each Page
Send everything your ballot instructions ask for, in the order they list. FVAP guides for fax states point to the FVAP Transmission Cover Sheet for faxed forms, and some states require a secrecy waiver or extra forms, such as the Alaska waiver or the Oregon forms. Your instructions name the forms your state needs.
On your own cover page, write the name of your election office, your full name as it appears on your voter registration, your home county or town, "Voted UOCAVA ballot for the 3 November 2026 general election", the total page count, and your phone number and email. Please do not write extra notes or page numbers on the ballot itself unless your instructions allow it; put them on the cover page and on the forms instead.
Entering the Number, Cost and Your Record
Select United States, then type all 10 digits of your election office's fax number. Do not type a leading 1, because +1 is added for you, and the box removes a 1 typed at the start. The pay button turns on only when all 10 digits are in. Numbers differ by county, so take yours from your ballot instructions, the links in your state's FVAP guide, or your election office's own website.
A fax to a US number costs $2.99 for up to 3 pages and $0.99 for each extra page. A cover page, a two-page ballot and one signed form is 4 pages, which is $3.98, and with a secrecy waiver added, 5 pages comes to $4.97. There is no account, nothing is printed on your document, and if the fax cannot be delivered the full amount goes back to your card automatically. Delivery usually takes a few minutes.
The election office does not send a fax receipt by default, so keep the confirmation email, which shows the destination number, the page count and the time in US Eastern Time, your record of exactly when it was sent. Then check your ballot status on your state or county election website. If the office needs to fax you a form, our sister service GetAFax.com gives you a private US fax number for 24 hours for $5, for up to 30 pages, with faxes arriving in your email as a PDF. If you are stationed outside the US, see how to fax your absentee ballot from overseas. More US topics are in the US fax guide.
Why send it here
One price for the whole fax, shown before you pay, and nothing added at checkout.
Nothing is printed on your document. It arrives exactly as you uploaded it.
If it cannot be delivered, the money goes back to your card without you asking.
It works from anywhere in the US, in any browser, with no account.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to fax my military absentee ballot from base?
Do I need an account to fax my UOCAVA ballot to my county?
I'm stationed in Texas but registered in Arizona, can I fax my ballot back?
Am I a UOCAVA voter if I'm stationed at a base inside the US?
My home state is Virginia and I'm stationed in Georgia, can I fax my ballot?
Can I fax my ballot to my county in California if I'm stationed in another state?
Does New Jersey let stateside military fax a ballot without mailing it?
What time is my faxed military ballot due on 3 November 2026?
I faxed my ballot through FVAP in 2024, can FVAP forward it again this year?
My ballot never showed up at my duty station, what do I fax instead?
My ballot instructions are lost, how do I get the fax number for my home county as a service member?
How do I type my county clerk's fax number when I send my military ballot?
My county clerk wants to fax me a form before Election Day, how do I receive it?
Will my county election office confirm it got my faxed military ballot?
Do I lose ballot secrecy if I fax my ballot as a service member?
My military ballot fax failed, what should I do?
Which home states let a soldier stationed stateside fax a voted ballot in 2026?
What do I put on the cover page when I fax my military ballot?
Does Nebraska let military voters fax a ballot?
Can my military spouse fax a ballot from our base in another state?
Related Guides
📖 How to Fax Your Absentee Ballot From Overseas
📖 How to Fax the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot
📖 How to Fax the FPCA Ballot Request
📖 Can Voters With Disabilities Fax a Ballot?
📖 How to Fax to the USA Online
📖 How to Fax From an Android Phone
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