Absentee voting

Absentee voting is a type of voting in which people cast their ballots in a way other than voting at an official polling place in person on the day of the election. Absentee voting gives people who would not otherwise be able to vote, such as college students living away from home, military personnel living overseas, and disabled individuals without access to transportation, the ability to cast their ballots. In the United States, individual states have varying rules regarding absentee voting practices. Some states require a valid excuse to qualify for absentee voting, while others do not have this requirement. Types of absentee voting include in-person absentee voting, early voting, mail voting, and electronic ballot (online or internet) voting.

Background

Absentee voting has been used in the United States since the country's founding. Early on, it was used as a matter of convenience for many people. At this time, voting was not held on one particular day but over a series of days to allow people who lived in rural areas enough time to travel to towns to cast their votes. This extended voting period also accounted for unexpected events that could jeopardize a person's journey, such as inclement weather that could cause a stream to flood and make a roadway impassable.

In 1845, the US government decided to hold elections on one specific day: the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. This was done to prevent people from committing voter fraud, such as voting more than one time or voting in more than one state.

The topic of absentee voting became popular again during the American Civil War (1861–1865) when the country decided how it would allow military personnel to cast their ballots during the 1864 election. State legislators debated issues such as the method soldiers would use to cast their votes, how to prevent voter fraud, and how to deliver the soldiers' ballots. Twenty-five states passed some type of absentee voting legislation for the soldiers fighting in the war. These laws allowed soldiers to cast their ballots by mailing their votes to family members, who would then cast the soldiers' votes.

In the early twentieth century, many states revised these laws in an effort to prevent voter fraud. They permitted soldiers to mail their ballots directly to state election officials instead of having family members vote for them. Some states eventually decided to extend absentee voting rights to civilians. Many of these states, however, had different qualifications. Some required approved excuses before they allowed a person to vote by an absentee ballot. This meant that a person who was ill and could not physically travel to a polling site had to submit an excuse to the state for approval before they were granted an absentee ballot.

In 1980, California became the first state to lift the requirement of needing an excuse for obtaining an absentee ballot. Several states followed suit, and some instituted other forms of absentee voting such as permanent mail ballot status and all-mail ballot elections. This meant that any person could request to submit their vote by mail instead of voting in person. By the end of the decade, several states began to allow voters to cast their ballots during a time earlier than the national Election Day. These states permitted early voting at special polling locations.

Overview

By the twenty-first century, all fifty states plus the District of Columbia allowed some form of absentee voting. Absentee voting gives college students, military members, disabled individuals, international US residents, and others an opportunity to cast their votes when they cannot make it to polling places on Election Day. About two-thirds of the states (and the District of Columbia) do not require voters to submit an excuse for an absentee ballot, while the other third do require a valid excuse. Every state has different requirements regarding absentee ballots. Federal law prohibits these votes from being counted until Election Day, however.

Registered voters must submit an application for an absentee ballot. This can be done either in writing or online, depending on the state. Voters must submit an excuse on this application if their states require one. Once approved, a voter can cast their absentee ballot. In most states, an absentee ballot is mailed from the state election office to a registered voter. The voter fills out the ballot and then mails it back to the state election office. Some states offer this process electronically.

Many states plus the District of Columbia allow certain voters to return absentee ballots electronically through a web-based portal site, fax, or e-mail. Electronic ballot transmission methods are mainly available to military personnel and other people who may not be able to return their ballots by mail. Some states have experimented with mobile apps for voting, generally using blockchain technology to ensure validity. Exact specifications and guidelines vary by state.

Some states permit permanent mail ballot status based on certain requirements, such as if a person is disabled or lives in remote areas from polling places. In these cases, once a voter requests an absentee ballot, they automatically receive an absentee ballot for each subsequent election. A few states only offer mail voting and automatically mail ballots to registered voters for all or certain elections. (Sometimes limited in-person voting is still available in these cases.)

Early voting allows people to cast their vote in person prior to an election. Most states and the District of Columbia permit early in-person voting, but the conditions, dates, and times vary by state. Just like absentee voting, some states require a valid excuse before allowing a person to vote before an election day.

Controversies

Absentee voting earned considerable attention around the 2020 US presidential election. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created a major public health challenge throughout the election year, and states imposed social distance rules and curfews in an effort to curb viral transmission. Observers noted that crowded polling places would increase risk of exposure and therefore people might be discouraged from voting in person, so many called for expanded absentee voting measures. (In many areas the terms "mail-in voting" or "vote-by-mail" were preferred over "absentee," but the practices remained essentially the same.) For example, some states requiring an excuse for an absentee ballot allowed fear of COVID-19 as a valid reason, while others increased the early voting period. A few states also decided to implement universal mail voting, in which all registered voters are sent a ballot in the mail without needing to request it (depending on state rules, completed ballots can then be returned via mail or dropped at designated collection points).

Despite the long history and proven security of absentee voting, President Donald Trump and other Republicans heavily criticized efforts to expand mail-in voting. They particularly attacked universal mail voting, suggesting—without evidence—that it would lead to widespread voter fraud. However, experts continually pointed to data showing that significant voter fraud was rare in the US regardless of voting method. As the 2020 election was held, Republicans further alleged fraud in the counting and verification of many mail-in ballots in key swing states, though little proof was offered and most such claims were dismissed as conspiracy theories. These unsupported allegations fed into Trump's false narrative that the election had been stolen from him after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Voting rights advocates countered that Republican critiques of mail-in voting were designed to undermine public faith in the election and the electoral system in general, and amounted to voter suppression. Meanwhile, the 2020 election saw higher levels of absentee and early voting than any previous US presidential election.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in April 2021 found Americans were increasingly divided along partisan lines in their views on absentee and early voting. For example, the percentage of Republicans supporting no-excuse absentee or early voting declined to 38 percent from 57 percent in 2018, while Democrats remained consistent around 84 percent. People who had recently voted absentee or early were more likely to approve of no-excuse policies. Overall, 63 percent of respondents felt anyone should be able to vote early or absentee.

Bibliography

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