Postal voting in the United States, also referred to as mail-in voting or vote by mail,[4] is a form of absentee ballot in the United States, in which a ballot is mailed to the home of a registered voter, who fills it out and returns it by postal mail or drops it off in-person at a secure drop box or voting center. Postal voting reduces staff requirements at polling centers during an election. All-mail elections can save money,[5] while a mix of voting options can cost more.[6] In some states, ballots may be sent by the Postal Service without prepayment of postage.[7]
Research shows that the availability of postal voting increases voter turnout.[8][9][10] It has been argued that postal voting has a greater risk of fraud than in-person voting, though known instances of such fraud are very rare,[11] with one database finding absentee-ballot fraud to be the most prevalent type of election fraud, comprising about 24% of 491 reported prosecutions between 2000 and 2012.[12] Processing large numbers of ballots and signature verifications accurately has numerous challenges other than fraud.[13][14][15][16]
As of 2022, eight states – California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington – allow all elections to be conducted by mail. Five of these states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington – hold elections "almost entirely by mail."[17] Postal voting is an option in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Other states allow postal voting only in certain circumstances, though the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has prompted further discussion about relaxing some of those restrictions. In the run up to the 2020 United States presidential election, after repeatedly asserting that mail-in voting would result in widespread fraud, President Donald Trump indicated he would block necessary funding for the postal service to ensure that postal votes would be processed securely[18] and on time.[19] In September 2020, CNN obtained a Homeland Security Department intelligence bulletin asserting "Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process."[20] Motivated by false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers initiated a push to roll back access to postal voting.[21]
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^"Vote from Home, Save Your Country". Washington Monthly. January 10, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
^"Colorado Voting Reforms: Early Results". pewtrusts.org. March 22, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^"Pre-Election Day Voting: Just the FAQs, Ma'am" (PDF). The Canvass. March 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
^"USPS DMM 703.8". USPS. January 1, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
^Hill, Charlotte; Grumbach, Jacob; Bonica, Adam; Jefferson, Hakeem (May 4, 2020). "We Should Never Have to Vote in Person Again". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^Wines, Michael (May 25, 2020). "Which Party Would Benefit Most From Voting by Mail? It's Complicated". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
^Thompson, Daniel M.; Wu, Jennifer A.; Yoder, Jesse; Hall, Andrew B. (June 9, 2020). "Universal vote-by-mail has no impact on partisan turnout or vote share". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (25): 14052–14056. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11714052T. doi:10.1073/pnas.2007249117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7322007. PMID 32518108.
^Young, Ashley (September 23, 2016). "A Complete Guide To Early And Absentee Voting". Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^Farley, Robert (April 10, 2020). "Trump's Latest Voter Fraud Misinformation". FactCheck.org. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
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^Wise, Justin (July 30, 2020). "FEC commissioner to Trump: 'No. You don't have the power to move the election'". The Hill.
^"Trump blocks postal funds to stymie mail-in voting". BBC News. August 13, 2020.
^"US Postal Service warns of risks to mail-in votes". BBC News. August 15, 2020.
^Cohen, Zachary (September 3, 2020). "Intelligence bulletin warns Russia amplifying false claims mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud". CNN.
^Wines, Michael (February 27, 2021). "In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules". The New York Times.
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