Can you vote in person if you were mailed a ballot?
(NEXSTAR) – Some voters who received mail-in ballots may be experiencing a little in-person voting FOMO just before Election Day – but is it possible to change one's mind and head to the polls?
While guidance varies by state and even by county, the good news is that you'll likely be able to do so.
Before your vote is officially counted, election officials will need to make sure that you haven't already voted.
Some polling locations will have electronic systems workers can check to see if you've already mailed in a ballot, but not all do. In many cases, you'll be asked to fill out a provisional ballot, which will be counted once your eligibility is confirmed. Provisional ballots are also used when someone doesn't have their ID in a state that requires it, when a voter reports to the wrong precinct, or when there is a problem with their registration information, among other situations.
Keep in mind that, depending on where you live, the actual in-person voting experience may be a little different. In New York, for instance, voters who receive an early mail ballot won't be able to use a voting machine at a poll place, but they can fill out a provisional ballot.
You should check the protocol with a local election office before leaving the house, but in many states voters are instructed to bring their early mail ballots with them to the polling place.
In California, you can exchange your unused vote-by-mail ballot for a polling place ballot. Alternatively, you can fill out the mailed ballot and bring the sealed envelope to a local polling place on Election Day.
Other states, like Alaska, encourage voters who have a last-minute change of heart to "destroy and dispose" of the mailed ballot before voting in person.
While the process may vary, you'll likely be able to vote in person instead of by mail – but should you? Some election officials would prefer you didn't.
“I encourage people who have received an absentee ballot to go ahead and vote that ballot,” Jason Hancock, Idaho’s deputy secretary of state, told ProPublica. “Spoiling ballots and issuing new ones adds to the cost and administrative burden of running an election and may slow down the voting process for anyone behind the voter in line at the polls.”