Maryland

7:00 am – 8:00 pm ET on May 14, 2024

• Use the Voter Location Lookup to search for a voter’s assigned polling place.  
• During Early Voting, voters can vote at an early voting center in the county where they live. The list of early voting centers for the 2024 primary election is available here.
• On Election Day, voters can vote in person at their assigned Election Day polling place.

Registration Deadlines

• For registration deadlines, see How to Register below.

How to Check Your Registration: Voters can determine whether they are registered to vote at the following link: Am I Registered?.

You are eligible to vote in Maryland if you:

• Are a U.S. citizen
• Are a resident of Maryland
• Are at least 18 years old by Election Day

You are NOT eligible to vote in Maryland if:

• You were convicted of buying or selling votes
• You are in prison or jail for a felony conviction
• A judge has specifically ruled that you are not able to vote.

Restorative Requirements

• If you have completed a felony prison sentence, even if you are still on parole or probation, then you are immediately eligible to register to vote.

Conviction of buying or selling votes results in permanent loss of voting rights.

You may preregister to vote in Maryland

• At the age 16

How to register 

• Maryland Presidential Primary
  • Submit an Application: Received by Tue Apr 23, 2024
  • In Person: Election Day Registration & Voting Tue May 14, 2024

Voters can determine whether they are registered to vote by checking the Maryland State Board of Elections Voter Lookup website.

Voters can register to vote online, in person, or via mail. 

• Voters can register to vote online here: Online Voter Registration. 
• Voters can print a voter registration application here: Voter Registration Application. The application can be submitted to the local board of elections or the State Board of Elections by mail or by hand delivery. 
• Voters can also complete voter registration in person at various government offices including at local board of elections offices, Motor Vehicle Administration offices, all public institutions of higher education, all recruitment offices of the U.S. Armed Forces, and  local Area Agency on Aging offices. 
• The voter registration application is available in English, Spanish, French, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Korean.

To register to vote in Maryland, an applicant must be (1) a U.S. citizen; (2) a Maryland resident; and (3) at least 16 years old (Maryland residents may not vote until they are 18 except that when they are 17 they may vote in a primary for a general election that will occur after they are 18.) There is no particular length of time that one has to be a Maryland resident before they can register to vote. The full registration procedures are outlined in the Voter Registration Introduction.

If You Want to Vote Absentee, requests may be made:

• By Mail
• By Fax
• By Email
• Online

Absentee Ballots may be returned:

• In-Person
• By Mail

Maryland Presidential Primary

Ballot Request:

• Request for Postal Ballot by Tue May 7, 2024
• Request for Online Ballot by Fri May 10, 2024
• In-Person Request by Tue May 14, 2024

Ballot Return:

• In-Person, Received by Tue May 14, 2024 8:00PM EDT
• Received in Dropbox by Tue May 14, 2024
• Postmarked On or Before Election Day and Received by Fri May 24, 2024

Early Voting

• Early voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, May 2, 2024 – May 9, 2024. 
• Anyone who is eligible to vote may do so using early voting. 
• Voters can vote in an early voting center in the county where they live. The list of early voting centers for the 2024 primary election is posted in English or Spanish. 

Mail-in Voting

• Voters do not need a specific reason to vote by mail.
• Voters can request a mail-in ballot in 3 ways:
  • Using the State’s online system;
  • Filling out a paper application: English or Spanish (email addresses and fax numbers for submitting a request for a mail-in ballot are available here); or,
  • Going in person to their local board of elections office to fill out the application 
• Mail-in ballots can be returned in 3 ways:
  • Via ballot drop box
    • Deadline: 8 pm on May 14.
    • A list of ballot drop boxes is available here.
  • In the mail
    • Deadline: Postmarked on or before May 14 and received by the local board of elections by 10 am on May 24. 
  • By hand-delivery to
    • the local board of elections or an Election Day polling place by 8 pm on May 14; or
    • An early voting location by 8 p.m. on May 9 (list of early voting locations in English or Spanish.)
  • Voters can check the status of their mail-in ballot applications and their ballots on the voter look-up website on the state’s voter look-up website.

General Information

• Early Voting 

Mail-in Voting

Voter Registration

To register to vote in Maryland you should provide one of the following:

• Maryland Learner’s Permit
• Your Maryland Driver’s License Number
• Your Maryland ID Number

If you do not have these IDs, you may provide:

• Last Four Digits of your Social Security Number

If you are registering for the first time by mail and can not be identified by the ID information you provided, you will need to provide proof of residence. Acceptable forms of proof of residence include:

• Maryland ID Card
• Government Issued Document that shows your current name and address
• Valid Maryland Driver’s License except one issued to an individual that is not a United States citizen
• Change of Address Card
• Current Utility Bill or Pay Check or Bank Statement

Voting In-Person

If you registered to vote in Maryland, you may be required to present valid ID if you are voting for the first time or your registration is incomplete. You can use any ID from this list:

• Paycheck that shows your Current Name and Address
• Utility Bill
• Valid Employee ID
• Valid Federal Issued ID
• Valid Military ID
• Government Check
• Valid US Passport
• Valid ID Issued by the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles, Transportation, Highway Safety, etc.
• Government Issued Document that shows your Current Name and Address
• Bank Statement
• Valid Maryland Driver’s License
• Valid Student ID
• Valid Maryland Issued ID

Statements, checks and bills should be dated no earlier than 90 days before Election Day.

Usually, voters will not be asked to show ID if their name is on the list of registered voters. However, voters will be asked to show identification in certain limited circumstances:

• A voter registered by mail and has not previously met the identification requirements.
• Someone in the voting center challenges a voter’s identity.
• A voter who registered to vote or changed his/her address during early voting or on Election Day will need to show proof of residency.

Voters can check the voter lookup site to see if they have to show ID before voting. 

Acceptable identification includes:

• A current and valid (not expired) Maryland driver’s license;
• A current and valid ID issued by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration;
• A current and valid student ID;
• A current and valid employee ID;
• A current and valid military ID;
• A current and valid U.S. passport;
• Any other current and valid Maryland- or federal government-issued photo ID; or
• A current (i.e., from within the last three months) utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the individual.

Maryland does not offer a free ID option. 
Voters without acceptable ID can cast a provisional ballot but must provide acceptable identification and/or proof of residence to the local board of elections by 10 a.m. on May 22, 2024 in order to have their provisional ballot counted.

If the voter recently moved within the same county in Maryland, the voter can cast a regular ballot at any early voting center in the county where the voter lives. If the voter updates his/her address on Election Day, the voter will have to vote by provisional ballot.

If the voter moved to a different county within Maryland less than 3 weeks before the election, the voter may cast a regular ballot at an early voting vote center in the county where the voter used to live, or vote a provisional ballot at an early voting vote center or Election Day polling place in his/her new county.

If the voter moved to a different county within Maryland 3 or more weeks before the election, the voter should go to an early voting center or Election Day polling place in his/her new county. At the vote center or polling place, the voter will vote a provisional ballot, but as long as the voter completes and signs the provisional ballot application, all of the votes will count.

If the voter moved to Maryland from another state then follow the regular voting registration procedures. The voter does not need to be a Maryland resident for a certain period of time before being eligible to register to vote in Maryland.

The voter registration deadline (including the deadline for changing party affiliation for purposes of voting in the primary on May 14, 2024) is April 23, 2024. 

• If the voter is registering online by using Maryland’s Online Voter Registration System (OLVR), the voter must complete the registration by 11:59 p.m. on April 23, 2024.
• If the voter is registering in person, they must do so by 5:00 p.m. on April 23, 2024.   
• If the voter is registering by mail, the voter’s application must be postmarked by April 23, 2024.
• If a voter misses the registration period, the voter can still register to vote or change an existing voter registration in person during early voting (from 7:00 am – 8:00 pm on May 2 to May 9, 2024) or on Election Day (from 7:00 am – 8:00 pm on May 14, 2024).

No state specific exceptions to voting eligibility for voters who have moved.

Voting Military

Service members and their dependents may register and request a ballot using the federal voter registration/ballot request form (“FPCA”). You will have the following identification options when completing the form:

• U.S. State or Territory or District Issued ID
• Option to Indicate that you do not have the Requested ID
• Last 4 Digits of your Social Security Number

Voting Overseas

U.S. citizens living overseas may register and request a ballot using the overseas voter registration/ballot request form. You will have the following identification options when completing the form:

• U.S. State or Territory or District Issued ID
• Option to Indicate that you do not have the Requested ID
• Last 4 Digits of your Social Security Number

Registering and Requesting an Absentee Ballot: Members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines who are absent from their voting residence, their families and overseas voters may register to vote and request and obtain a ballot in several ways. To register, they may register online, or fill out and mail a Maryland voter registration form, which must be postmarked by April 23, 2024 for the Primary Election. Members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines who are absent from their voting residence and overseas voters can also fill out a Federal Post Card Application (“FPCA”) and send it to the local board of elections for the county in which they last resided in Maryland. The FPCA must be received by April 23, 2024 for the Primary Election, whether returned by mail, email, or fax. If registering for the first time, the voter will have to mail the FPCA because election officials need an original signature on file.

The Federal Post Card Application allows eligible Members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines who are absent from their voting residence and their eligible family members, and overseas voters to simultaneously register and request their mail-in ballot. However, if an eligible voter registers with a state voter registration form, they must separately request a mail-in ballot. The deadlines for registering to vote (postmarked by April 23, 2024), applying for mail-in ballots to be delivered to the voter by mail (received by May 7, 2024), and applying for mail-in ballots to be delivered to the voter by email/online (received by 11:59 pm on May 10, 2024) are the same as for in-state Maryland residents.

Receiving an Absentee ballot: Members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines who are absent from their voting residence and their eligible family members, and overseas voters may receive their mail-in ballots by mail, email/online or fax. To request electronic transmission of the blank ballot, these voters must mark the appropriate box and provide an email address or fax number on the Federal Post Card Application.

Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot: The Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) is a back-up ballot that members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines who are absent from their voting residence and eligible family members, and overseas voters may use. Members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marines and their eligible family members who are absent from their voting residence may use the FWAB whether they are located inside or outside the United States (including APO and FPO addresses), provided that they are away from their voting residence for service-related activities, they registered and requested an absentee ballot by the applicable deadline and they did not receive a regular ballot in time to return it by the deadline. U.S. citizens residing outside the U.S. and who registered and requested an absentee ballot by the applicable deadline and who do not receive a regular ballot in time to return it by the deadline may also use the FWAB.

Casting an Absentee Ballot: Ballots may only be returned by mail, hand-delivery, or ballot drop off box; they cannot be submitted via email or fax: 

• Hand-Delivery: The voter must deliver the ballot to the voters local board of elections by 8:00 pm on Election Day (May 14, 2024) or take it to any early voting center in the voter’s county, any polling place in the voter’s county or a ballot drop off box by the time the polls close. 
• Delivery by Mail: The voter may mail in their ballot (postmarked on or before primary election day (May 14, 2024)). The voter’s mailed in ballot must be received by the voter’s local board of elections by 10:00 am on May 24, 2024.

Ballot Drop off Box. The list of ballot drop off boxes is available here. Ballots must be dropped off by 8:00 pm on Election Day (May 14, 2024).

An individual is not qualified to register to vote if the individual:

• Has been convicted of buying or selling votes;
• is under guardianship for mental disability and a court of competent jurisdiction has specifically found by clear and convincing evidence that the individual cannot communicate, with or without accommodations, a desire to participate in the voting process; or
• has been convicted of a felony and is currently incarcerated. 

Convictions include federal, in-state, and out-of-state convictions. An individual with misdemeanor convictions is not disqualified from voting. An individual can vote while on probation or parole, unless he/she was convicted of buying or selling votes. Once a person with a felony conviction has been released and is no longer incarcerated, the person must re-register to vote.
Pretrial detainees who have not yet been convicted and persons with misdemeanor convictions are not disqualified from voting. Like all other qualified voters, those serving jail time in pretrial detention or on misdemeanor convictions may apply for and cast a mail-in ballot, so long as they have never been convicted of buying or selling votes.

Will the Polling Place Be Accessible?

All the early voting centers are accessible to voters with disabilities. A voter can contact his/her local board of elections and inquire about which Election Day vote centers are accessible in the voter’s county.

Voter assistance with Mail-in Ballots?

If you have a disability and cannot mark your ballot independently, they offer an online tool to help mark your ballot. With this tool, most voters can make selections without help. If a voter would like to use this online tool, request a mail-in ballot, and check the box saying that you want to print your ballot from the SBE’s website. 

Can a Voter Get Assistance at the Polls?

A ballot-marking device that is accessible to most voters is available at all voting locations in early voting centers and Election Day vote centers. Blind voters and voters with low vision can vote by listening to the ballot selections and by using the keypad. Voters with physical disabilities may also choose to use the high contrast and large print functions of the voting unit. Other assistive devices (for example, sip and puff) can be plugged into the device. If voters want to use the audio ballot, they can ask an election judge. Election judges will answer questions and help as needed.

In addition, a voter requiring assistance may choose any individual to assist the voter in marking or preparing the ballot, except the voter’s employer, an agent of that employer, an officer or agent of the voter’s union, a candidate on the voter’s ballot (if the voter is casting a provisional ballot), or a designated poll watcher or challenger. The voter may also choose to have two election judges assist them. If the voter declines to select an individual, a poll worker, in the presence of another poll worker that represents another political party, shall assist the voter in the manner prescribed by the voter. The person rendering assistance must sign the Voter Assistance Form and may not suggest in any way how the voter should vote.

Have questions or need more information? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683)!