Voting from home or another place
Published: 10 June 2026
If it’s difficult for you to get to a voting location, a messenger can assist you by taking your vote there for you. Alternatively, your municipality can send two polling staff to collect your vote from you at home, or from another place of your choice. They are known as mobile polling staff.
Get a messenger to assist you
Voting by messenger means that someone else delivers your vote for you – either to a voting location or to an early voting location.
In order to vote by messenger, you need:
- a messenger
- a witness (this person cannot be your messenger)
- special materials for voting by messenger, which it will be possible to request closer to the elections on the Swedish Election Authority’s website, val.se, or collect from early voting locations and voting locations.
Your messenger must be at least 18 years old. They could be a relative, friend, carer or someone who normally helps you, for example. Your witness must be at least 18 years old.
Who can vote by messenger?
You can vote by messenger if you:
- are ill
- are elderly
- have a disability
- are in custody in a pretrial detention centre or in a correctional institution
- are living or staying in a place served by a rural mail carrier (please contact PostNord)
Who can act as a messenger?
A messenger must be at least 18 years old. They must be able to show their ID when they deliver a vote on someone else’s behalf.
People who can be your messenger:
- your spouse or cohabiting partner
- your – or your spouse’s or cohabiting partner’s – children, grandchildren, parents or siblings
- your care provider (a professional carer or another person who provides similar care)
- someone who normally helps you with your personal matters
- a rural mail carrier
- a member of staff at a pretrial detention centre or correctional institution
Here’s a step-by-step guide to voting by messenge
Prepare your vote so that your messenger can deliver it when the voting period begins. The materials for voting by messenger include blank ballot papers, envelopes and instructions.
Prepare your vote
Prepare your vote alone.
Write the name of the party you wish to vote for on each blank ballot paper for the relevant elections. You can also vote for a specific candidate by writing their name too.
Put your ballot papers in ballot envelopes
Put your ballot papers in ballot envelopes. Use one ballot paper and one ballot envelope for each of the following elections: Riksdag (yellow ballot paper), regional councils (blue ballot paper) and municipal councils (white ballot paper).
Close the envelopes by tucking the flaps down or sealing them.
Put the ballot envelopes in the outer envelope in the presence of your witness and messenger
Put the ballot envelopes in the outer envelope for voting by messenger, and seal it. Your messenger and witness must both be present when you do this.
Exception: when a rural mail carrier is used
If a rural mail carrier is your messenger, they do not need to be present when you prepare your vote.
Write your personal details on the outer envelope
Fill in all the fields on the outer envelope with your personal details. Write your signature on the outer envelope.
Confirmation is provided by your witness and messenger
Your witness and messenger both confirm that the voting procedure has been carried out correctly by filling in their personal details on the outer envelope and signing it.
The messenger takes the vote to the voting location
Now your messenger can take your vote to an early voting location, or to your assigned voting location (if it’s election day).
They must be able to prove their identity by showing valid ID.
Get help from your municipality
If you can’t get to a voting location in order to vote, and you don’t know anyone who can be your messenger, two polling staff members from your municipality can come to you instead to collect your vote. They are known as mobile polling staff. For further information, please contact your municipality.
Mobile polling is an option if you can’t get to a voting location because you:
- are ill
- are elderly
- have a disability
- are placed in a special residential home for young people
- have been arrested and are being detained in police custody
- have been admitted to a care facility which it is difficult for you to leave
You vote in the same way as you would at an early voting location. You can get help from the polling staff if you need it. They can help you put your ballot papers in ballot envelopes, for example. Polling staff have a duty of secrecy.