Most states require voters returning absentee or mail ballots to ensure their ballots are received by the appropriate authority by Election Day. A number of states allow ballots to be received a certain number of days after Election Day if the ballot envelope is postmarked on or before Election Day. Finally, some states require absentee…
In addition to returning absentee or mail ballots through the postal service, many states offer voters the option of returning their ballot to a secure drop box provided by election authorities. States take a variety of policy approaches to ballot drop boxes, with some states requiring they be accessible statewide, while other states limit, restrict,…
Third party ballot collection, which is also referred to negatively as “ballot harvesting,†refers to a voter allowing another individual to return their completed ballot. MAP has analyzed each state law to determine whether a given state’s restrictions on ballot collection are overly burdensome to voters. Restrictions on ballot collection can disproportionately affect Native voters,…
During the 2020 election cycle, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, philanthropists recognized a need for additional funding for election offices. These grants were available to any election jurisdiction, and over 2,500 individual offices received additional funding to increase their staffing, training, and available equipment and to conduct safe elections despite COVID-19. All funds…
The 2020 election saw a large increase in voters choosing to utilize absentee or mail ballots rather than traditional in-person voting. This increase created logistical issues for election jurisdictions in the ballot counting process, which in turn caused delayed results in some states. One policy states can use to help lessen these delays is allowing…
The federal Voting Rights Act (VRA), passed in 1965 thanks to the efforts of the civil rights movement, is one of the most important pieces of legislation ever enacted in our country. However, due to U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the past decade, some of the most important protections of the federal VRA have been…
Almost every state has some form of a “voter intent†law or policy, which operates to guide election officials in determining a voter’s choices on their ballot. These policies help in situations where the voter’s marks on a ballot are unclear or there are stray markings, and allow voter’s ballots to be counted rather than…
States use a variety of methods to verify that absentee and mail ballots were returned by the correct voter. Many states conduct rigorous signature verification processes or match identifying information such as driver’s license numbers, while some states only confirm the ballot is signed or the voter has affirmed their own identity.
Oftentimes voters who utilize absentee or mail ballots return those ballots through the postal system. States vary in their policies regarding return postage for those ballots, with some states providing prepaid return postage envelopes so voters don’t need to pay for postage themselves.
In most states, when a voter casts their absentee ballot, they can simply return the ballot through the mail or in person at a drop box or election office. However, some steps impose additional required steps that can create barriers to voters casting their ballot. These additional steps usually consist of requiring a notary or…
