(October 29, 2024) — Ballot boxes were set on fire in Oregon and Washington state this week in an attempt to discourage Americans from participating in the most vital element of our democracy—voting. Yet Voting at Home maintains its strength and resilience as a secure voting method. The incidents have been met with swift action from local election officials committed to preserving the integrity of the electoral process and who have previously implemented robust security measures to protect mailed-out ballots against any attempts at voter fraud.

“Voting at home continues to be a safe and convenient method of voting that maximizes voter engagement and participation. Its security features, from unique ballots tied to each voter to signature verification, ballot tracking, and ballot curing, have been on display through the response to these attacks,” said Barbara Smith Warner, executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute.

In response to the acts of vandalism, local officials from Multnomah County, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington, have reaffirmed their dedication to safeguarding the electoral process. Both counties executed security plans to address the threat, demonstrating their readiness to counteract election interference. Since 2018, jurisdictions have received $952 million in election security funding to enhance security and maintain their constituents’ trust.

“Your vote is your voice, and we applaud the work of local election officials who remain resolute against attempts to undermine the electoral process,” added Smith Warner. “The integrity of our democratic process is paramount, and any interference with our elections will face harsh legal consequences.”

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 

(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 

(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.

(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.

(September 5, 2023) — Today, the National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) issued a research paper examining 18-34-year-old voter turnout in the 2020 Presidential election, both overall and by key race/ethnicities. The study calculated and analyzed turnout rates using two critical denominators — eligible citizens and active registered voters —  for 42 states for which sufficient age-related data was available.

Young voters aged 18-34 — overall and by key race and ethnicities — had significantly higher turnout rates in the cohort of 10 Vote at Home states and Washington, D.C., that automatically mailed ballots to all active registered voters in 2020. Using Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) and Active Registered Voter (ARV) datasets from a Voter Participation Center study and a significant list vendor (Catalist), the research team first examined overall 18-34 turnout rates. Six of the top 10 states for eligible citizen turnout in 2020 – and eight of the top 15 for active registered voter turnout –were Vote at Home jurisdictions. Only one Vote at Home state (Nevada) was a 2020 battleground state; most others failed to make either list.

To further analyze turnout rates of 18-34 year old white, Black, and Latino voters, the nine Vote at Home jurisdictions with available data were compared with four other cohorts. These were the seven 2020 battleground states that didn’t use this approach; ten non-Vote at Home states with Same Day/Election Day (SDR/EDR) registration policies; ten non-Vote at Home states with Automatic Voter Registration (AVR); and the remaining 16 states with none of these policies. Of the 32 possible turnout rate comparisons, using both the CVAP and ARV denominators, Vote at Home states triumphed, in all 32 instances, often by dramatic margins.

“Despite billions spent by the major political parties on media ads, voter registration drives, and other Get out the Vote efforts targeting young voters, it was non-battleground, Vote at Home states that dominated the list of Top Turnout states for young voters in 2020,” said Barbara Smith Warner, NVAHI Executive Director.

New Jersey, a non-battleground state, boasted the nation’s highest 18-34-year-old turnout rate of eligible citizens (CVAP) at 64%, compared to a 50% national average. Montana, which like New Jersey used this system for the first time in 2020, topped the list for 18-34 active registered voter  turnout, at 86%.

“While SDR/EDR and AVR policies also seem to boost young voter turnout,  their impact appears to be a fraction of the turnout increase that happens when states automatically deliver ballots to all voters, especially young voters,” said Phil Keisling, chief author of the study. Keisling chairs NVAHI’s Board and served as Oregon Secretary of State from 1991-99.

Read the full report here.

About National Vote At Home Institute

The National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that aims to increase voters’ access to, use of, and confidence in voting at home, in which voters receive 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.

The National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI), a non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to providing better access to mailed-out ballots for American voters, fully supports New York’s recently passed early mail voting bill (S.7394/A.7632).

“Access to the ballot is fundamental to American democracy, and we urge Governor Hochul to sign this important reform,” said Executive Director Barbara Smith Warner.

New York is currently one of only 15 states — including Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri — that still require voters to have a legally defined excuse to request a mailed-out ballot or face criminal penalties. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the state has also often lagged behind the rest of the U.S. in voter turnout, placing 38th in 2022.

Stanford research demonstrated that elevated levels of mailed-out ballots hold no partisan advantage. Further, a Rutgers study released this week revealed that in states with improved access to mailed-out ballots, turnout among disabled voters increased dramatically from 2018-2022.

“When this bill is signed and becomes law, New York will be one of 36 U.S. states, covering over 75% of U.S. voters, that empower all their voters to receive this level of access to their ballots, and when voters have better access to mailed-out ballots, they vote in higher numbers, which strengthens our democracy,” Smith Warner noted.

About National Vote At Home Institute

The National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that aims to increase voters’ access to, use of, and confidence in voting by mail, or “voting at home” — in which voters receive 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.

The Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF), March For Our Lives (MFOL), and National Vote At Home Institute (NVAHI) filed an amicus brief in Cascino v. Scott (No. 22-50748) before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case, originally brought in 2020 in emergency litigation related to the pandemic election, challenges a law that requires young Americans to satisfy a limited set of statutory excuses to qualify to vote by mail, while making vote-by-mail automatically available to voters over the age of 65 who do not need to offer any excuses. Yael Bromberg, Esq. and student-attorneys from the Rutgers International Human Rights Clinic filed the motion and accompanying amicus brief, with the support of local counsel Jared G. LeBlanc, of LeBlanc Flanery PLLC. While numerous parties served as amici during previous phases of the litigation amid the 2020 Presidential Election, the amicus brief serves as the only amici voice during the present phase of litigation.

“The law in place in Texas, and six other states in the nation, unequivocally violates the Twenty-Sixth Amendment by allowing regular voting methods to be provided to one set of voters, while — simply on account of age — another set of voters is left without,” explains Yael Bromberg, Esq., Supervising Attorney in the Rutgers International Human Rights Clinic and AGF’s Special Counsel & Strategic Advisor to the President and CEO. “Age discrimination in voting-by-mail untowardly impacts the rise of youth voters and minority youth in particular, given emerging voting patterns and the changing demographics of Texas and the nation.”

“Restricting young people’s access to the ballot box is voter suppression, plain and simple,” says Ciara Malone, March For Our Lives’ Legal Director. “Guns are the leading cause of death for young people, and we deserve a say in the laws that combat that — or allow it in the first place. Young people will fight for our right to vote and our fundamental right not to be shot, and we’re pleased to join this brief to defend those rights.”

“Texas law is worse than discriminatory; it’s downright hypocritical,” says Phil Keisling, Chair of the National Vote At Home Institute and former Oregon Secretary of State. “However self-righteously they might bleat about ‘election integrity,’ state legislators are telling their own citizens, ‘We think anyone 65 or older is inherently honest and incapable of election fraud crimes with their mail ballots — while the rest of you simply can’t be trusted.’”

When the Texas case was first brought to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, The Andrew Goodman Foundation, Equal Citizens, and Common Cause, filed an amicus brief, arguing then that the unequal treatment of youth voters in the Texas vote-by-mail law violates the Twenty-Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans age discrimination in voting. Ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election and amidst the early surge of the COVID-19 pandemic when vote-by-mail was imperative for Americans’ safety. The Supreme Court denied the petition to vacate the stay, although Justice Sotomayor acknowledged the need to consider the merits of the legal question beyond the context of an emergency application to vacate a stay of injunction: “This application raises weighty but seemingly novel questions regarding the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.” Without the injunction, young voters without an excuse remain ineligible to vote by mail in Texas.

The filing of the 2020 amicus brief followed Age Discrimination In Voting At Home, a report published in June 2020 by AGF, Equal Citizens, and a coalition of civil rights groups and legal organizations. The report details how Texas and six other states — Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee — violate the Twenty-Sixth Amendment by discriminating based on age in their vote-by-mail laws. According to the report, in states that discriminate by age, only 5% of 18-24 year-olds voted by mail in 2018, as compared to 65% of people who were 65 or older. In states that did not discriminate by age, the percentage of 18-24 year-olds who voted by mail drastically increased to 17% in 2018.

Data consistently demonstrates that young people want to vote by mail. In the 2020 Presidential Election, 70% of young voters cast their ballots early or by mail. Additionally, research indicates that expansive vote-by-mail policies lead to increased voter turnout, particularly among young voters and voters of color, as further detailed within the amicus brief.

“It is imperative that young voters have the information and resources they need to vote by mail effectively,” says Charles Imohiosen, Esq., President and CEO of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. “In October 2022, The Andrew Goodman Foundation launched Student Vote Choice, a national campaign to promote student voter accessibility to vote in person or by mail and to ensure that these ballots are counted. Together, AGF and our partner organizations will bring polling places, as well as educational resources about voting by mail, to campuses ahead of the 2023 local and 2024 Presidential Elections.”

Amici thank the Rutgers International Human Rights Clinic and its student-attorney clinical team and Supervising Attorney Yael Bromberg, Esq. and Clinical Director Penny Venetis, Esq., as well as local counsel Jared G. LeBlanc, Esq. of LeBlanc Flanery PLLC for their legal representation.

Read the full Amicus Brief

About The Andrew Goodman Foundation
The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The organization is named after Andrew Goodman, a Freedom Summer volunteer and champion of equality and voting rights who was murdered, alongside James Earl Chaney and Michael Schwerner, by the KKK in 1964 while registering Black Americans to vote in Mississippi. To learn more, visit www.andrewgoodman.org.

About March For Our Lives
Born out of a tragic school shooting, March For Our Lives is a courageous youth-led movement dedicated to promoting civil engagement, education, and direct action by youth to eliminate the epidemic of gun violence. It is our mission to create safe and healthy communities and livelihoods where gun violence is obsolete.

About National Vote At Home Institute
The National Vote at Home Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that aims to increase voters’ access to, use of, and confidence in voting by mail, or “voting at home” — in which voters receive 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.