Calling a U.S. Election Office from Overseas
Most questions about a missing ballot or rejected form can be settled in one quick phone call. It’s easy to call your local election office, even from overseas.
Find the right number
Your ballot is handled locally, by a county or municipal office.
Dialing a U.S. number from another country
U.S. numbers are written as (555) 123-4567. From overseas you dial your country’s international access code, then the U.S. country code 1, then the ten digits. The access code is 00 in most countries — so that number becomes 00 1 555 123 4567 — but a few use another, such as 010 in Japan and 0011 in Australia. On a mobile you can type + in place of the access code, and +1 555 123 4567 works from anywhere. From Canada, just dial 1 555 123 4567.
Toll-free U.S. numbers — the ones starting 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 or 888 — are generally not reachable from outside the United States, and where they connect at all they are rarely free. If an office lists both, use the ordinary number.
Call while someone is there
Local election offices keep ordinary business hours, usually from about 8am to 5pm on weekdays. Check the office’s local time before you call. The United States moves its clocks back a week after Europe does, so from Europe the gap is an hour shorter for about a week in late October.
Keeping the cost down
International calls from a mobile can be expensive. Internet calling services will usually connect you to an ordinary U.S. phone number for a small amount or nothing at all, which is enough for a call like this. Any of the widely used options works — we do not recommend a particular provider.
If calling is difficult, email is a reasonable alternative. Most local offices publish an address, and our election-office finder lists it where they do.
Have these ready
- Your full name as you registered it, and your date of birth.
- The U.S. address you registered from — the last place you lived before moving overseas.
- Your current overseas address and email, in case they need to resend anything.
- Roughly when you sent your form, and how you sent it.
- The specific question. “Was my ballot sent, and to which address?” gets a faster answer than “is everything all right?”
What is worth asking
Whether your registration and ballot request were received and accepted; whether your ballot has been sent and to which address; and, if it has not reached you, what they would like you to do next. That last question matters — offices differ on whether they would rather resend the ballot or have you use the federal backup ballot.
If you are close to a deadline, say so at the start of the call.
Not registered for 2026 yet?
Sending your form early is what avoids most of these phone calls. It takes about seven minutes and costs nothing.