Resources

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.

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.

In this paper, authors examine ballot tracking use, local election official communication related to
ballot tracking options, how ballot tracking impacts ballot rejection, and the impact of ballot
tracking on voters’ information levels and attitudes about election integrity.

These graphics, prepared by The Elections Group, are intended for use by election officials to help bring public attention to the ballot curing process and the need for voters to take steps to ensure their vote is counted.

This brief explains risk limiting audits, how they differ from fixed-percentage audits, and state adoption trends.

Even before the 2020 election, this reseach finds that voter turnout across the states is consistently higher in every general election over the past decade in states with greater shares of overall ballots cast by mail. Drawing on turnout data from the 2012-2020 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Cooperative Election Study (CES), authors find states with greater usage of mail voting experience higher overall voter turnout.

This issue brief provides an overview of absentee and mail voting in the U.S.. Authors provide a brief history of mail voting, and note an increase in mail voting since the COVID-19 pandemic. It spotlights Oregon's early adoption of vote-by-mail (VBM) and explores current discourse regarding whether VBM increases voter turnout, and concerns over electoral integrity.

This brief provides a current overview of post-election tabulation audits, state requirements, audit types, and policy considerations.