Postal voting in the United States

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]