voteathomedev, Author at National Vote at Home Institute

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.

National Vote at Home Institute Welcomes New Board Members

Non-profit organization working to deliver more ballots to voters in every state welcomes a trio of activists and advocates.

(February 1, 2024) — National Vote at Home at Home Institute is kicking off this year with the appointment of three new board members: Judy Beard of the American Postal Workers Union; Kori Blalock Keller of the National Association of Letter Carriers; and Winn Khuong of Action Together™ New Jersey.

“With the Voting Rights Act under increased attack, there’s never been a more important time to expand access to voting at home,” said Executive Director Barbara Smith Warner. “Delivering ballots to voters increases voter participation, saves money, and has multiple security features. Our new board members all have deep knowledge about voting at home, and will bring that to bear on NVAHI’s work in 2024 and beyond to encourage its use as a turnout tool and make it more accessible in every state.”

Judy Beard is the Legislative and Political Director at the American Postal Workers Union. Beard was elected Retirees Department director in November 2007 and is the first woman legislative director in the union’s history. Beard got her postal start in 1970 in Detroit and held many union offices in the Detroit District Area Local, including teaching at the University of Michigan’s School of Industrial Relations, before coming to Washington, D.C.

Kori Blalock Keller is the Chief of Staff at the National Association of Letter Carriers, serving as the principal advisor to the President for all union matters. At NALC, Keller successfully led a coalition of postal stakeholders and bipartisan, bicameral efforts to enact meaningful postal reform following years of inaction. Before joining NALC, Keller spent ten years with the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) union, serving as its chief spokesperson and Legislative and Political Representative.

Winn Khuong is the Founder and the Executive Director of Action Together™ New Jersey Education Fund, a nonpartisan 501(c)3 voter education organization. Khuong has been honored with the Alice Paul Award, the Russ Berrie Award, and the New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Awards in the Founder/Innovator category. She serves on the Steering Committee of Rising Stars at the Eagleton Institute and previously on Governor Murphy’s Diversity and Inclusivity Council. Khuong was a speaker at the 2018 and 2019 Women’s March, 2018 March for Our Lives, and has appeared in the New York Times, PBS Newshour, and numerous media outlets.

Opportunities to vote at home in 2024 are significant, and the appointment of these remarkable members will propel the critical work of the National Vote at Home Institute, democracy partners, and, most importantly, American voters.

About National Vote At Home Institute

The National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that works to increase voters’ access to, use of, and confidence in voting at home, in which voters are delivered mailed-out paper ballots; return them either by postage-free mail or in-person to a wide range of accessible, convenient, and secure locations; and can track them online, in real-time, to ensure their vote is counted.

Illinois Lawmakers look at Proposal Allowing Counties to move Primarily to Vote at Home

WGEM — Members of the Illinois House Ethics and Elections Committee discussed a proposal Wednesday allowing counties to go primarily to a vote at home system.

New York’s New Vote at Home Law Faces an Early Test

Gothamist — A mid-February special election is poised to be the first test of a new New York state law that will allow early voting by mail. According to National Vote at Home Institute Executive Director, Barbara Smith Warner, the new law is about “centering the voter” and ensuring that life, especially in mid-winter, does not prevent someone from participating in the election.

Cost of Elections

Voice of San Diego — Registrar of Voters Michael Vu faces the logistical headache of all logistical headaches every election year.

With the help of a staff of 64 that balloons to 9,000 on Election Day, he needs to make sure that voters get ballots and sample ballots. That’s no simple task. San Diego County is so full of public agencies with elected officials that the registrar must print up nearly 600 different ballots for voters, depending on where they live. Plus nearly 600 sample ballots. And every single ballot and sample ballot has to be translated into five languages.

Then Vu has to oversee the counting and certification of the votes before the process starts over again. In his seven years with the county, he’s only had one (2011) that passed without a single election.

Now, the Registrar of Voters office is finishing its move into a new building in the county’s sparkling new administration complex, getting ready for the special San Diego mayoral election on Feb. 11 and assisting candidates who want to get on the ballot in 2014.

Vu, who previously worked in the election world in Salt Lake City and Cleveland, could see his job drastically change if California elections ever move to mail-only or online-only voting. For now, though, it doesn’t look like that will happen soon.

In a Q-and-A, Vu talked about the high cost of elections (the Feb. 11 mayoral election alone is estimated to run $4 million to $5 million), the differences between elections in Cleveland and here, and the reason he thinks of himself as a wedding planner.

States That Send a Mail Ballot to Every Voter Really Do Increase Turnout, Scholars Find

Oregon Capital Chronicle — Lately, a rough consensus has emerged among people who study the impact of voting policies: Though they often spark fierce partisan fighting, most changes to voting laws do little to affect overall turnout, much less election results.

But one fast-growing reform appears to stand out as an exception. When every registered voter gets sent a ballot in the mail — a system known as universal vote-by-mail — voting rates tend to rise, numerous studies have found.

Advocates for mail voting say these findings haven’t gotten the attention they deserve, and that they should lead more states that want to boost turnout to adopt UVM, as it’s called.

New York Governor Signs Legislative Package to Strengthen Democracy and Protect Voting Rights

New York Governor — Governor Kathy Hochul signed a legislative package to strengthen democracy and protect voting rights in New York State. This legislative package, which includes Early Voting by Mail, builds upon New York State’s ongoing efforts to improve and protect access to the ballot box for all New Yorkers, including last year’s enactment of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, the most expansive state level voting rights act in the country.