Montana Begins Mailing Absentee Ballots for 2026 Election
Montana begins mailing absentee ballots on October 9 as the state continues a long-term shift toward mail-in voting since establishing no-excuse options in 1999.
The Montana Secretary of State's Office begins mailing absentee ballots for the 2026 general election on Friday, Oct. 9. This rollout follows a two-decade trend where absentee voting transitioned from a minority option to the primary method of casting ballots in the state.
Legislative changes drove this growth, starting with Senate Bill 140 in 1999, which created no-excuse absentee voting, and Senate Bill 88 in 2005, which enabled automatic sign-ups for future elections. Data shows absentee voting rose from approximately 22% in 2004 to nearly 75% by 2018.
Mail voting reached a peak of 97.7% in 2020 after former Governor Steve Bullock issued a directive allowing counties to conduct mail-ballot elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Montana has returned to a hybrid system, with the share of absentee and mail ballots declining to roughly 80% in 2022 and 70% in 2024.
