How to Vote in US Elections From Spain

If you are a US citizen living in Spain, you can vote in the 3 November 2026 federal election from here, through the state where you last lived before you moved abroad. One form does most of the work: the Federal Post Card Application, or FPCA, which registers you and requests your absentee ballot at the same time. The deadline that decides whether it counts is your state’s, and 14 states and territories close FPCA registration on Sunday 4 or Monday 5 October 2026.

The date doing the rounds is 5 October, and for Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Ohio it is right. For other states it is wrong in both directions. Indiana’s 5 October date applies to its own state registration form, while an FPCA sent from Spain has until 26 October. Massachusetts and North Dakota require no registration from overseas voters, and Michigan sets no registration deadline. The state list further down gives every date as the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) published it on 28 September 2026.

Last verified: 28 September 2026.

Who can vote from Spain, and through which state

Any US citizen aged 18 or over who lives outside the United States can vote absentee for federal offices: the House of Representatives, and the Senate in states where a seat is up this year. Whether your ballot also carries state and local races depends on your state and, in some states, on whether you say you intend to return.

You vote through your voting residence, which FVAP defines as “your address in the state in which you were last domiciled, immediately prior to leaving the United States.” It stays valid even if you no longer own property there, have no ties left, or do not know whether you will ever go back. The FPCA’s own instructions put it plainly: “You do not need to have any current ties with this address.” That US address goes in Section 2 of the form. Your Spanish address goes in Section 3, which asks where you are now; FVAP warns that an overseas address in Section 2 “may automatically disqualify you”.

Citizens born abroad who have never lived in the US are a separate case, and the rules differ by state. Alaska, for example, lets a citizen register as a federal voter where “you, or your parent or legal guardian” were last domiciled; Illinois requires a previous Illinois address. The current FPCA has no box for this situation, so ask the election office in your parent’s state before sending anything.

Tax, and what voting does not change

A common worry is that voting will make your old state treat you as a resident for tax. For federal elections, federal law settles it: 52 U.S.C. §20309 says that exercising these voting rights “shall not affect, for purposes of any Federal, State, or local tax, the residence or domicile of a person exercising such right.” That protection is written for the federal-election rights in that part of the law. A vote in state or local races on the same ballot is a separate question for your state, and FVAP’s advice to anyone thinking of claiming a new legal residence is to “consult legal counsel as there may be other factors to consider, such as tax implications.”

Step one: the FPCA

The FPCA (Standard Form 76) is one form that registers you and requests your ballot. FVAP says it covers federal elections for “at least one calendar year” and recommends sending a new one every January and whenever you move. An FPCA sent for the 2024 election may not carry you through 2026, so if you are unsure whether yours is still on file, send a new one now.

• Fill it in with the online assistant at FVAP.gov, which builds the form for your state. The US Embassy in Madrid and the Consulate General in Barcelona also hold paper copies.
• Choose your category in Section 1. Overseas citizens pick between “I intend to return” and “my intent to return is uncertain”. In some states the answer changes your ballot: Illinois and Pennsylvania give voters whose return is uncertain a ballot for federal offices only, and in Pennsylvania those voters cannot register at all and request a federal ballot instead, by 27 October.
• Send it by email or fax where your state allows it. Most do. The exceptions matter from Spain, because the post is the slowest part of the process. Alabama, Arkansas and Connecticut want the signed FPCA by post. Florida, Idaho, South Dakota and Wisconsin want it by post when you are registering for the first time (Maryland also takes its online system, California also takes fax). New York takes email or fax but also wants the paper form posted.
• Ask for your ballot by email or online in Section 5. A ballot that arrives as a download cannot get lost in the post.
• Sign it. Alaska, for one, rejects a typed or digital signature, so check your state’s rule before signing anything electronically.

The deadline is your state’s

Every state sets its own dates for overseas voters, and FVAP publishes them state by state. Three things decide whether yours has passed: the registration deadline, the ballot request deadline (sometimes later), and whether the date is “postmarked by” or “received by”. A few states also offer a route after the registration date. Texas lets voters who are not yet registered send an FPCA by the ballot request deadline, 23 October, to receive a ballot for federal offices. Illinois also gives a federal-only ballot to some FPCAs received after 5 October, and its FVAP page sets out which.

The registration dates for 3 November 2026, as FVAP listed them on 28 September 2026 (each state’s page at FVAP.gov carries the full detail, including request and return deadlines):

• Sunday 4 October: Alaska, Rhode Island, US Virgin Islands, South Carolina (by email, online or fax; by post, postmarked 5 October).
• Monday 5 October: American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida (postmarked), Georgia, Illinois (overseas citizens who intend to return), Kentucky, Louisiana (its online route stays open to 13 October), Ohio, Texas.
• 6 to 9 October: Nevada and New Mexico (6 October; Nevada’s online system, NVEASE.gov, stays open until polls close), Missouri (7 October), Oklahoma (9 October).
• 13 to 19 October: District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia (13 October); Wisconsin (14 October, postmarked); Connecticut and Nebraska (16 October); Alabama, California, Delaware, Guam, Iowa, South Dakota and Pennsylvania (19 October; in Pennsylvania this applies to overseas citizens who intend to return).
• 23 to 26 October: Idaho, Utah and Virginia (23 October); Mississippi, New York and Tennessee (24 October); Hawaii (postmarked) and Indiana (26 October).
• Up to election eve or day: Maine, North Carolina and Wyoming (2 November); Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington (3 November).
• No registration deadline: Massachusetts, Michigan and North Dakota. The cut-off that matters is the ballot request: 27 October in Massachusetts, 31 October in Michigan, 2 November in North Dakota.

Puerto Rico lists no federal election this year. Louisiana treats 3 November as the open primary for its US House seats and runs a House general election on 12 December, so Louisiana voters may need both dates.

When the ballot arrives

If your FPCA was already on file, your state had to send the ballot by 19 September, 45 days before the election, and FVAP says to expect it “by early October”. If you send the FPCA now, the ballot follows once your election office has processed it. Vote and return it the day it arrives.

How it goes back depends on the state. Many accept the voted ballot by email, fax or an online portal. For an overseas civilian voter, these 24 states and territories want it back by post: American Samoa, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wisconsin also requires a witness, who can be anyone aged 18 or over. If your state is on that list, the post from Spain is the biggest risk you run. Check whether your state’s deadline is a postmark or an arrival date, and post the ballot as early as you can.

If the ballot has not come: the FWAB

The Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, is the backup. If there is not enough time to receive and return your official ballot, FVAP’s advice is to fill in the FWAB (it is on FVAP.gov) and send it. If the official ballot turns up afterwards, fill that in and send it too. “Only one will be counted.” Some states also accept the FWAB as a registration, with their own cut-offs, and FVAP’s state pages say where that applies.

Once the ballot has gone, you can check whether your election office received it through the ballot-status link on your state’s FVAP page, where the state provides one.

Help in Spain

The US Embassy in Madrid (+34 915 872 200) and the Consulate General in Barcelona (+34 932 802 227) help with the form. The embassy’s voting notice of 11 September 2026 sends voters to FVAP.gov first, and so do we, because it carries every state’s current rules in one format.

The same notice lets you, or someone else, drop off an FPCA or a voted ballot at the nearest US embassy, consulate or consular agency. On the Costa that is the consular agency for Málaga, at Avenida Juan Gómez “Juanito” 8, Edificio Lucía, in Fuengirola, which takes drop-offs Monday to Friday from 10:30 to 12:00. The ballot has to be in the postage-paid envelope that came with it or carry US postage, and the embassy warns that transit “can take up to 30 days”. Drop it off early, and if your state accepts the ballot by email or fax, use that instead.

What voting from Spain does not cover

• Spanish elections. A US citizen resident in Spain has no vote in Spanish municipal, regional or general elections; our guide to who can vote in Spain sets out the rules by nationality.
• An old FPCA. It covers at least a calendar year, so one sent for 2024 may have lapsed.
• State and local races, for tax. The federal protection above covers the federal-election vote.
• A full ballot. Depending on your state and your answer on return, you may receive federal offices only.

The five-minute version

• US citizens in Spain vote in the 3 November 2026 election through the last US state they lived in, even with no property or ties left there.
• One form, the FPCA, registers you and requests the ballot. Send a new one if you are not sure yours is still on file.
• Fourteen states and territories close FPCA registration on 4 or 5 October, including Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Ohio. Indiana’s FPCA deadline is 26 October, and ten states take registrations up to election eve or day.
• Ask for the ballot by email or online. In two dozen states and territories the voted ballot still has to go back by post, so post it the day you fill it in.
• If nothing has arrived, send the FWAB from FVAP.gov. If the official ballot comes later, send that too: only one is counted.
• Voting in federal elections from abroad does not change your residence for federal, state or local tax (52 U.S.C. §20309).

Related guides

• Can You Still Vote in Your Home Country While Living in Spain?
• Can Foreigners Vote in Elections in Spain?
• Spain Election Calendar for Foreign Residents
• Spanish Will for US Citizens Living in Spain

General information, not legal advice, current as of 28 September 2026. Primary sources: the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP.gov) state pages, voting-residence guidance and absentee voting overview; the Federal Post Card Application (Standard Form 76, revision 08-2026); 52 U.S.C. §20309; the US Embassy Madrid voting notice of 11 September 2026 and its consular contact page; and the election offices of Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina and Texas for the earliest deadlines.