In this paper, authors draw upon the 2016 and 2020 Cooperative Election Study to analyze the likelihood that Trump supporters: (1) voted by mail, (2) self-reported voting by mail, and (3) self-reported not voting by mail when they did (misreporting VBM). In 2020, Trump supporters were markedly less likely to cast a VBM ballot and were also significantly more likely to disclaim voting by mail when they actually did.
Resources
Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.
This analysis suggests that documentary proof of citizenship requirements would affect voters across the electorate. While Democrats and Republicans possess some form of documentary proof at similar rates, Republicans’ reliance on birth certificates mean they may be more heavily impacted by documentary proof requirements than Democrats. Additionally, wealthier and more highly educated voters are more likely to have documentary proof than others.
The survey included an expansive set of disability questions and validated voter turnout responses against state voter files. The analyses reveal a high disability incidence; large disability turnout gaps; and even greater gaps estimated with validated compared to reported turnout. Much smaller turnout gaps and better voting experiences are found in the states that conduct their elections with all-mail voting.
The resources below are designed to help election officials manage the process of registering voters and creating, updating, and maintaining voter records.
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
Registered voters in some legislative districts in Los Angeles County were subjected to universal voting by mail in the March 2020 primary. This research indicate that voter turnout increased by 3 to 4 percentage points for voters who do not automatically receive a mail ballot, and the increase is generally larger for registered partisan voters than those without a party affiliation.
This report provides guidance to election officials to communicate about the work they are doing related to voter list maintenance.
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.
CEIR has surveyed states about voter registration database security every two years since 2018. These surveys have demonstrated widespread best practices in respondent states.
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.