2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SIXTEEN - Election and Registration (§§ 1 — 4255) › Subtitle 6 - Election Code (2011) › Chapter 408 - Procedures Before an Election; Voting (§§ 4141 — 4184) › § 4175 - Persons entitled to absentee vote

Duly qualified voters who are entitled to the process of absentee voting are those who are outside of Puerto Rico on the day of an election and fall in one of the following categories:
(a) Personnel stationed outside of Puerto Rico on active duty for the United States Armed Forces, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or Puerto Rico National Guard.
(b) Persons studying outside of Puerto Rico in an educational institution duly accredited by a competent authority of the place where the institution is located.
(c) Persons working in the Agricultural Employment Program under a contract handled by the Department of Labor and Human Resources of Puerto Rico.
(d) Persons stationed outside of Puerto Rico in the diplomatic or foreign aid service of the Government of the United States of America, or in a personnel exchange program between the Government of Puerto Rico and a foreign government.
(e) Spouses and children or dependent relatives of voters who are in any of the four (4) aforementioned groups, and who are a part of the immediate family group that lives under the same roof with said voter, provided that they meet the requirements to be voters under the provisions of this subtitle.
(f) The crew of commercial airlines, merchant marines, and crew members of any private air or sea carrier who are working outside of Puerto Rico on the day of an election.
(g) Persons confined in penal institutions in the United States of America who were sentenced in the Courts of Puerto Rico or in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and who were domiciled in Puerto Rico at the time they were sentenced.
(h) Any employee or official of the Government of Puerto Rico, its branches, subdivisions, agencies, and municipal governments, who is outside of Puerto Rico on official business on that date.
(i) Athletes and technical support personnel who are participating in athletic competitions (or high-performance athletes participating in training programs outside of Puerto Rico on the day of an election) representing Puerto Rico on the day of an election and are certified by the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee or any of its federations.
(j) Professionals and their family unit who are residents of Puerto Rico but, because of work or school, must remain temporarily outside of Puerto Rico for a term not to exceed eleven (11) months.
(k) Any other person domiciled in Puerto Rico whose employer requires him/her to carry out or provide lawful business or services of any kind outside of Puerto Rico for any period of time which includes the date of an election, and whose employer does not provide paid leave to return to the Island to vote.
(l) Any person who, on the date of a general election, is undergoing medical treatment outside of Puerto Rico due to a catastrophic illness, thus declared in a sworn statement and in a certification issued by the medical institution where said treatment will be administered. Any relative or person who is accompanying the person receiving such treatment may also request the absentee vote.
The Commission is hereby authorized to adopt, through regulations or resolution, those measures that it deems necessary to guarantee the federal rights of voters covered by the provisions of the laws of the United States of America on absentee vote and regarding the mechanisms to exercise the same.
The Commission shall develop an affirmative orientation program for those persons entitled to absentee vote and shall take the steps needed to obtain the lists of those voters included in the category described in subsection (a) of this section and make such lists available to political parties.
History —June 1, 2011, No. 78, § 9.035.