voteathomedev, Author at National Vote at Home Institute

A Tale of Two State’s Turnouts

National Vote at Home Institute — Once upon a time, two states, with nearly identical demographics and similar high turnout political cultures, held the exact same election on the exact same day, with just one identical issue on their ballots.

That day was March 5, 2024, Super Tuesday, when voters in Minnesota and Colorado weighed in on the single question of who should be the Republican and Democratic nominees for U.S. President. In Minnesota, 17% of registered voters cast a ballot. In Colorado, 39% of registered voters did so.

What was the difference? In Minnesota, voters had to go to their assigned polling place, on or before Election Day, or apply in advance (though no excuse was required) for a mailed-out absentee ballot. In Colorado, all active registered voters automatically received their ballots, via the US Postal Service, several weeks before the election. Voters could then return their marked ballots by mail, or in person.

Both states have roughly 3.5 million registered voters, and pride themselves on high voter turnout in presidential and midterm general elections. Colorado ranked #7 in 2020 and #6 in 2022, while Minnesota ranked #1 and #3.

Both states have automatic voter registration, and allow voters to register to vote up through Election Day itself. And politically, both are purple, trending blue. Hilary Clinton won both states in 2016, but with less than 50% of the vote. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 7% in Minnesota and 11% in Colorado.

Because its voters don’t register by party affiliation, Minnesota allowed 100% of its registered voters to participate in the March 5 presidential contest. Although Colorado is a party registration state, 98% of its voters could still participate, as the state’s 1.6 million non-affiliated voters are mailed both parties’ ballots, though they can only vote one.

If anything, Minnesota’s demographics are even more voter turnout-friendly than Colorado’s. Minnesota is a tad older – its median age in the 2020 census was 38.5, compared to Colorado’s 37.3. Minnesota’s “white alone non-Latino” population was 75.9% according to the most recent (2022) Census estimate, while in far more diverse Colorado, it was 64.8%.

When academic researchers attempt to measure the impact of a particular election policy on voter turnout, they typically need to control for these and other key variables, not to mention the multiple races being voted on during that single election. It’s an enterprise inherently fraught with many assumptions, whose various weightings and regression coefficients are indecipherable to most non-academics.

Such research is thus easy to downplay or even dismiss, especially different studies that seem to reach opposite conclusions. That is why real-world, “natural experiments” like this one– again, identical elections, held on the same day, with the same, singular question for both states’ voters – can bring so much more clarity.

So far, Colorado’s more-than-double turnout trouncing of Minnesota has largely been ignored by journalists, political analysts, and democracy reform advocates. Perhaps the difference is so astonishingly large that people simply don’t believe it.

But it’s worth noting that on March 5, five other Super Tuesday states couldn’t crack even the 20% turnout mark, either (Tennessee, Oklahoma, Virginia, Maine, and Texas), while Washington state, which also automatically mails all active registered voters their ballots, turned out at 35%.

Coincidence? We don’t think so. And it’s long past time for those who lament the abysmal state of America’s “spectator sport” democracy to pay far more attention to the single most powerful way to address it – by automatically sending a ballot to every active registered voter, every time.

What’s Missing in the Primaries? The Voters

National Vote at Home Institute — Now that more than 40 states have held a 2024 primary election, the evidence continues to reveal what is arguably the single most effective way to boost voter turnout and help revitalize America’s anemic democracy. Let’s automatically deliver ballots to all voters, before every important election. Need evidence? Here’s just three of the most compelling proof points from this year’s exercises: the states of Colorado and Montana, and Garden County, Nebraska.

First up, Colorado. This year’s Super Tuesday featured 10 states with the same singular and identical question on their ballots: who should be the Republican and Democratic party nominees for president? Turnout of active registered voters in 9 of the states ranged from 28% in Vermont through 21% in Alabama and Arkansas down to 17% in Tennessee and Minnesota. But only one Super Tuesday state is a Vote at Home state, where all active registered Democrats, Republicans, and non-affiliated voters were automatically mailed out their ballots – Colorado, and there, turnout was nearly 39%.

Most striking is the contrast with Minnesota. Both states pride themselves on high general election turnout, and both have similar “pro-voter” laws like same day voter registration and automatic voter registration. And if anything, Minnesota has the edge with two key demographic factors associated with higher turnout: more older and white voters. Despite all that, Colorado more than doubled Minnesota’s turnout, at 39% to 17%.

Next up is western Nebraska’s Garden County, population 1,874. On May 14, Nebraska held its regular statewide primary, giving voters a chance to weigh in on a wide range of federal, state, and local races. Statewide, registered voter turnout was just 28%. But Nebraska allows counties with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants to skip polling places and Vote at Home instead. Garden County, which has been taking that option for years, had the truly remarkable turnout of 62% of their 1,318 active registered voters, all of whom had been automatically delivered a ballot.

And just in case you think that Garden County’s rural, small town demographics were responsible for their citizens’ remarkable performance, compare them to the five adjacent counties, also largely rural, whose voters instead had to travel to their pre-assigned polling places: Keith (41%); Arthur (32%); Sheridan (31%); Grant (30%) and Deuel (21%).

Now for our third and final stop: Montana. Montana isn’t a true “Vote at Home” jurisdiction like Colorado or Garden county, since not every active registered voter is automatically mailed a ballot as a matter of law. But for several decades, this mostly red state has allowed its voters to sign up once to automatically Vote at Home for every election, and over 87% have taken the opportunity.

For its June 4th primary, Montana counted more than 270,000 returned mail ballots – which constituted nearly 90% of the total votes cast. With 593,000 active registered voters,this puts Montana’s active registered voter turnout at a remarkable 51%.

Might such dramatic demonstrations of the power of mail ballots cause a cooling of the contentious, highly partisan debates still swirling about voting at home, given that politicians of both major parties always claim to support greater voter participation? Well, probably not. But if we want to know the answer to the question of whether there’s a proven, simple way to engage more Americans, of all ages and political persuasions, to participate in their democracy, it’s clear.

Send them a ballot.

Why N.J. needs to make Vote by Mail permanent | Opinion

New Jersey — The 2020 election produced record-breaking turnout of young voters in New Jersey, making it the top state for participation among people in that age group. What was our secret? Vote by Mail.

According to a report from the National Vote at Home Institute, New Jersey achieved the highest voter turnout of eligible 18-to-34-year-olds in the 2020 election – an extraordinary 64%. This success can be attributed to Gov. Phil Murphy’s bold decision to send mail-in ballots to every active, registered voter in the state amid the pandemic.

California’s Ballot Tracking Service: Who Is Using It and How Does It Impact Voter Examining San Mateo County’s Adoption of the California Examining San Mateo County’s Adoption of the California Confidence and Behavior?

Statewide ballot tracking was introduced to California voters in the 2020 election cycle after the Secretary of State’s office contracted with the BallotTrax organization, a division of i3logix, Inc. based in Denver, Colorado, to create a tracking tool. Available in all 58 counties, the BallotTrax tool sends updates via email, text, or voice message informing registrants when their vote-by-mail ballot has been mailed to them, when it has been received by their county elections office, and the status of their ballot as it is processed. Since the 2020 general election, vote-by-mail ballots have been sent to every registered voter in the state and the majority of voters cast their ballots using vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots, returning them through a variety of methods: secure drop box, staffed drop-off location, and via the United States Postal Service (U.S.P.S.)

Examining who is signed up for BallotTrax to track their vote-by-mail ballot, what their voting behaviors are, and how they differ from those who do not use the ballot tracking tool can improve our understanding of how BallotTrax may be influencing Californians’ interactions with the electoral process. This report examines BallotTrax use in California in the 2022 primary and general elections to better understand who is using the tool, how their behaviors differ from those who don’t, and what their preferences are when signed up for BallotTrax.

Nearly 4-In-5 Registered Voters Failed To Cast a Ballot in 2024 Primaries, While Highest Turnout Seen in Vote at Home States

Primary elections, a crucial part of the democratic process where many races are functionally decided, continue a distressing trend in 32 contests through April 24

(April 25, 2024) — According to an analysis released by the National Vote at Home Institute this week, of an estimated 149 million registered voters eligible to vote in 32 state primary contests held through April 24, 2024, only ~34 million cast a ballot; an aggregate turnout of approximately 23% if using active registered voters and a no-show rate of nearly 5-in-6 potential voters using all eligible citizens.

“What these states are missing is a powerful election reform that has the potential to double or even triple voter turnout,” says Barbara Smith Warner, executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute. “In the Vote at Home election states, where ballots are automatically delivered to all active registered voters, there’s no need to request a mailed-out ballot or travel to a polling place, and the resulting turnout shows the difference it makes.”

Through April 24, states have held three types of primary elections: 24 states held presidential preference-only contests; seven states held full state primaries, where voters chose Democratic and Republican party finalists for candidates for all federal and state positions; and one state, Wisconsin, paired its presidential contest with legislatively referred statewide ballot measures.

Among the 24 presidential preference-only states, registered voter turnout has averaged just 21%, ranging from lows of 5% to 10% in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to 50% in New Hampshire, which regularly has a high turnout for presidential primaries. In contrast, Vote at Home states saw a rate of 35% in Washington and 39% in Colorado, roughly double the turnout of other Super Tuesday states with comparable demographics (e.g., Tennessee (17%), Minnesota (17%), and Virginia (19%).

The turnout rates in six states that held full state primaries—Illinois (17%), Texas (18%), Alabama (21%), Ohio (22%), North Carolina (24%), and Pennsylvania (24%)—fell short of that in California (35%), which automatically delivered ballots to all registered voters. This pattern mimics National Vote at Home data from the 2022 primary election and demonstrates a significantly higher turnout in Vote at Home states.

“Delivering ballots in California reminded voters that an election was imminent and provided them time to study their options and cast an informed ballot,” said Smith Warner.

National Vote at Home Institute research examining 18-34-year-old voter turnout found that young voters had significantly higher turnout rates in the 10 Vote at Home states and Washington, D.C., that automatically delivered ballots to all active registered voters in 2020. Yet, the median age of voters in 2022 was 62* nationwide with turnout among 65+ voters was nearly 43%, compared to 10% for 18-34-year-olds.

“It’s great that 65+ Americans are well-connected to our elections, but young voters, who will constitute 44% of voters in 2028, feel estranged from our current political climate,” said Smith Warner. “We should be committed to solving a problem that threatens the key to our democracy’s future.”

Voter engagement is crucial, and using mail ballots to Vote at Home is a potential game-changer in pursuing decisive election reform.

*In states with age-available data.

About the National Vote at Home Institute

Founded in 2018, the National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that works to increase voters’ access to, use, and confidence in voting at home, where voters are delivered their ballot, return them by postage-free mail or in-person to a range of accessible, convenient and secure locations, and can track them online to ensure their vote is

National Vote at Home Institute Releases Comprehensive Guide on How to Vote at Home in Every State

The resource lays out the Vote at Home process, from ballot requested to ballot counted, as a tool for civic engagement groups seeking to boost voter access and turnout through the increased use of mailed-out ballots.

(April 16, 2024) — The National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) is excited to announce the launch of its comprehensive state-by-state How Americans Vote at Home tool. Mail ballot policies vary widely; this resource provides state-specific particulars on Vote at Home policies and processes to support nationwide efforts to promote mail ballot use. How do voters request and return their mail ballot? Is there a witness requirement? Can they track their ballot from being mailed to being counted? What happens if there’s an issue with their ballot? Are there limits on third-party involvement?

“More Americans voted at home in 2020 than by any other method, and that helped drive voter turnout to its highest level in more than a century,” said Barbara Smith Warner, executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute. “While the popularity of Vote at Home has continued to grow, many states have changed their rules on how to access it. As we approach the next presidential election, we want to make sure that voters can continue to utilize the safety and convenience of voting at home.”

Vote at Home (vote-by-mail or absentee voting) has become increasingly popular with American voters as access to it has expanded. Today, 3 in 4 voters can Vote at Home for any reason, and nearly 40% are automatically delivered or can opt-in to be delivered a mail ballot for all elections. Voting at home centers the voter’s convenience by delivering their ballot to their doorstep, offers more time and opportunities to return it, and eliminates the concerns of long poll lines, work or child care conflicts, or weather emergencies.

Over the last twenty years, NVAHI estimates that over 1 billion ballots have been delivered nationwide for presidential and midterm elections, party primary races, special vacancies, and local elections. The convenience of Vote at Home has led to higher voter turnout in states that automatically deliver ballots to every active registered voter. In 2022, Oregon, which pioneered full Vote at Home, had the highest turnout of eligible voters at over 60%.

“As an Oregonian, I’ve been Voting at Home since 2000. Now, in a year that faces poll worker shortages, long wait times and safety concerns, we want to help as many voters as possible to Vote at Home.”

The tool is primarily intended for civic engagement groups of all shapes and sizes nationwide, to help them successfully integrate Vote at Home into their voter registration and voter engagement programs. Using state specific information about How Americans Vote at Home, available on the NVAHI website, can help boost voter access and turnout through the increased use of mailed-out ballots.

About the National Vote at Home Institute

Founded in 2018, the National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that works to increase voters’ access to, use, and confidence in voting at home, where voters are delivered their ballot, return them by postage-free mail or in-person to a range of accessible, convenient and secure locations, and can track them online to ensure their vote is counted.

The Expansion of Voting Before Election Day, 2000–2024

The last two decades have seen a large expansion in the number of states offering options to vote before election day, from 24 states in 2000 to 46 states in 2024. Put another way: In the 2000 general election, 40% of all voting-age citizens lived in states that offered at least one option for voting before election day—such as early in-person voting or mail ballots. As of this writing, nearly 97% of all voting-age citizens will live in states that will offer at least one option to vote before election day in the 2024 election.

North Carolina To Test Signature Verification for Mail Ballots in Primary Election

National Association of Counties — The National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan group that works to increase voter access to voting-by-mail. The nonprofit’s executive director, Barbara Smith Warner, said the addition of signature verification in North Carolina would be “a solution in search of a problem.”

“It crosses the line from voter security to voter suppression, I would argue,” Smith Warner said. “We are big believers in signature verification as an organization, but that’s not what this is. North Carolina, they already have multiple layers of security and the idea of this giving more security is pretty head-scratching.”

The National Vote at Home Institute suggests using a variety of signatures the state has access to from the voter over time, including potentially a driver’s license or marriage certificate, as a “best practice” for signature verification, according to Smith Warner.

GOP Backs Voting by Mail, Yet Turns to Courts To Restrict It in Battleground States

Stateline — “Americans have used mail ballots for over a hundred years because they provide a safe and convenient way to ensure the right to vote,” said Barbara Smith Warner, the executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute, which advocates for mail voting. “Research has demonstrated time and time again that voting at home increases voter participation and turnout for all, with no partisan advantage for any side.”

Vote at Home Policy and Research Guide

Many states are undertaking pro-democracy reforms to improve voter access and engagement, including Same Day / Election Day (SDR / EDR) registration, online registration, automatic voter registration (AVR), and early in-person voting (EIPV). Many of these efforts have focused on engaging the electorate at the point of registration, but less so on removing barriers that prevent already-registered voters from exercising their right to actually cast their ballots. Vote at Home (VAH) focuses on removing those barriers, although full VAH states also incorporate best practices that improve voter registration and the ongoing maintenance of voter registration files.