Resources

This research's findings suggest that signature validation, which serves as a primary safeguard for mail voting integrity, may be systematically influenced by underlying biases

This research finds that when people vote by mail, they are more likely to successfully identify the candidates that are best aligned with their preferences.

In this paper, Carter takes an in-depth look at absentee/mail-in voting pre and post COVID-19 pandemic. The paper recommends that more states should expand their access to voting by passing no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting laws due to the positive impacts of expanded mail voting policies on voters during the pandemic.

The results indicate that state mail voting laws (universal mail voting or no-excuse absentee mail voting) and more widespread use of mail voting ballots can boost turnout in primary elections, particularly when combined with open or nonpartisan primary rules.

In this paper, authors explore whether reliance on algorithms or a hybrid system for verifying signatures allay or increase citizens' confidence in using them in elections. They find that respondents similarly trust automated and non-automated systems, but do not have a clear conception of the confidence threshold, set by policymakers, necessary for rejecting ballots.

This video is part of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's "Learning Lab" series. The video is focused on election mail and covers topics such as how to work effectively with the U.S. Postal Service during election periods, design and prepare election mail, communicate with voters about election mail, and safely handle election mail.

The 2025 Local Election Official Survey gathered insight on the views of 858 local election officials related to federal cuts to election security services, resource constraints, worries of political interference, experiences of threats and harassment, and the use of artificial intelligence in elections.

This research conducts a systematic review of the European mail voting systems to identify a set of best practices for making voting by mail as easy as possible, while safeguarding the secrecy and security of the vote.

At think link, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission houses a variety of reports, best practices guides and implementation tools (e.g., quick start guides) to help election officials manage mail voting processes and serve voters who use vote-by-mail or absentee voting options.

This research finds evidence which implicates evaluator bias as the primary driver of racial disparities in vote by mail signature verification.

This report details how American voters experienced the 2024 general election. It is based on a survey of 10,200 registered voters, including 200 from each state plus D.C. Key findings from mail voting include: mail voting decreased to 29% from 43% in 2020; 37% of Democrats used mail voting compared to 24% for Republicans; few voters reported issue with requesting or completing a mail ballot; 3% of voters who returned their ballot via mail encountered disruptions.

This research analyzes the demographics of voters whose mail ballots are rejected in Washington and Colorado. It finds that younger voters and voters of color are more likely to have their ballots rejected due to a non-matching signature; however, almost half of these rejections are ultimately incorrect and are cured by the voter. Additional findings show that the experience of having a ballot rejected in one election, even if the issue is resolved through ballot curing, reduces the voter’s likelihood of participating in subsequent elections.