# Which 3 states allow you to change your vote once you've cast it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995 "2016-10-29T04:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/1 "2016-10-29T04:04:57Z")
Hi I heard a news commentator saying that 3 states allow you to change your vote once you’ve cast it, but didn’t elaborate? Which ones are they? I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/2 "2016-10-29T04:34:53Z")
I believe there are states in which you can cast an in-person ballot canceling a mail-in ballot. Perhaps you can do something similar with early walk-in voting. It’s difficult to imagine you can return to the polls to recast a ballot as that would require them that they retain some identification with every ballot cast. ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/3 "2016-10-29T05:26:53Z")
According to FOX news there are a few states. No battleground states, unless you consider Pa. . And I think they mentioned either Arizona and Nevada. They also said NY and Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/4 "2016-10-29T06:06:58Z")
[Foxnews.com: Officials in 2 States Say Early Voters Want to Change Their Ballots](http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/10/14/early-absentee-voters-minnesota-wisconsin-can-change-their-ballots) > [@](#): > > Voters in Minnesota and Wisconsin have the option of changing their vote if they cast their ballots early or as absentees. > … > Edson reported that the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office says that voters can ask to cancel their ballot until the close of business one week before Election Day. > > “Wisconsin officials say voters can cancel their absentee ballots up to three times,” Edson noted. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/5 "2016-10-29T14:13:39Z")
It’s not unreasonable. An absentee ballot is intended to be a convenience to people who will not be present near their voting precinct on election day. But a voter still has up to election day to make up his mind, and can change his mind, the same as a person who expects to be at the ballot box on election day. It does raise a question about voter secrecy, though. If your ballot is secret, how is it possible that a voting clerk can go and get it out and hand it back to you? ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/6 "2016-10-29T14:32:35Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > [Foxnews.com: Officials in 2 States Say Early Voters Want to Change Their Ballots](http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/10/14/early-absentee-voters-minnesota-wisconsin-can-change-their-ballots) Thanks Alley Dweller. I’d love to know what the third one is. Fox news anchors have mentioned it a few times but never elaborate. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/7 "2016-10-29T14:55:48Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > It’s not unreasonable. An absentee ballot is intended to be a convenience to people who will not be present near their voting precinct on election day. But a voter still has up to election day to make up his mind, and can change his mind, the same as a person who expects to be at the ballot box on election day. > > It does raise a question about voter secrecy, though. If your ballot is secret, how is it possible that a voting clerk can go and get it out and hand it back to you? Seriously? The people you vote for are secret because they are inside a sealed document that has your name on the outside. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/8 "2016-10-29T15:09:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > It’s not unreasonable. An absentee ballot is intended to be a convenience to people who will not be present near their voting precinct on election day. But a voter still has up to election day to make up his mind, and can change his mind, the same as a person who expects to be at the ballot box on election day. > > It does raise a question about voter secrecy, though. If your ballot is secret, how is it possible that a voting clerk can go and get it out and hand it back to you? The way it’s done here is you mail the ballot back inside a plain envelope that’s inside an outer envelope with your name, address, voter ID barcode etc. They leave all the ballots sealed up until it’s time to count. So until that time they can find one by name if needed. Once it’s time to count, the outer envelopes are opened and discarded while the inner envelopes are put in a big sack. Which are then opened by a different crew in a different room. As always, any bureaucratic procedure is only as reliable as the people executing it. And the remedy for deterring cheating is usually to have people from both parties watching the steps of the process. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/9 "2016-10-30T02:39:07Z")
Here in Minnesota they certainly advertise that you can change your vote, but not too widely. When you vote before the election (it’s not just absentee voting starting this year, now anyone can vote early), you write your driver’s license number or the last four digits of your SSN on the sealed envelope that contains a second sealed envelope with the actual ballot. Up to a week before the election (Halloween!) you can ask for original ballot to be pulled so you can vote again. I haven’t heard numbers about how many people actually do this though. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/10 "2016-10-30T07:26:14Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Thanks Alley Dweller. I’d love to know what the third one is. Fox news anchors have mentioned it a few times but never elaborate. Thank you all. From [Heavy.com](http://heavy.com/news/2016/10/early-voting-results-can-you-change-your-early-vote-absentee-void-revote-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/): > [@](#): > > Fox News says you can change your early vote in at least eight states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Louisiana, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Check with your local election officials. Here’s a [searchable directory.](https://www.usa.gov/election-office) ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/11 "2016-10-30T08:02:59Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > From [Heavy.com](http://heavy.com/news/2016/10/early-voting-results-can-you-change-your-early-vote-absentee-void-revote-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/): Thanks aldiboronti. Very helpful. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-3-states-allow-you-to-change-your-vote-once-youve-cast-it/769995/12 "2016-11-01T06:53:47Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Here in Minnesota they certainly advertise that you can change your vote, but not too widely. When you vote before the election (it’s not just absentee voting starting this year, now anyone can vote early) Actually, it is absentee ballots. What people are calling ‘early voting’ here in Minnesota is actually in-person absentee balloting, made possible by a law that allows ‘no-excuse absentee balloting’. The only difference is that (during the last week), ‘early voting’ ballots are run thru the vote scanner so that if you made a mistake (like voted for 2 presidential candidates), it will tell you and give you a chance to correct it. You can’t do that with an absentee ballot that you mail in. (I don’t know if those votes are actually counted at that time, or if they are saved and re-scanned in the precinct on election day for the official count.)