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.

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.

National Vote at Home Institute Study Demonstrates Higher 18-34-year-old 2020 Turnout in States that Automatically Mailed Voters a Ballot

(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.

National Vote At Home Institute Supports New York Early Mail Voting Bill (S.7394/A.7632)

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, March For Our Lives, & National Vote At Home Institute Join As Amici In Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals In Texas’ Vote-By-Mail Age Discrimination Case

The amicus brief argues that the Texas vote-by-mail law is discriminatory and includes data on the impact on young voters overall, and the increased stratification among minority youth voters, who are ineligible to vote by mail due to their age.

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.

NVAHI Announces Barbara Smith Warner as Executive Director

National organization’s vision is to protect and increase participation in our democracy by delivering voters’ ballots via the U.S. mail.

The National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) today announced that Barbara Smith Warner, the former majority leader of the Oregon House of Representatives, has been chosen as the organization’s new Executive Director, effective February 27, 2023.

Smith Warner was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2014, where she served for 9 years and was chosen by her colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022. In addition to strengthening Oregon’s pioneering “Vote at Home” election system –in which all active registered voters are mailed their paper ballots, several weeks prior to every election – Smith Warner also played a leading role in the 2015 passage of another Oregon “first in the nation” democracy reform: Automatic Voter Registration.

Prior to her legislative service, Smith Warner’s experience included working as a field representative for U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and doing strategic organizing and legislative and political education work for the AFL-CIO and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

“In addition to her extensive experience and record of achievements– as an elected public official; a grassroots organizer; and as a skilled communicator and coalition builder – Ms. Smith Warner brings a deep commitment to our work of further expanding the role mailed-out ballots can play to make American democracy more accessible and representative,” noted NVAHI chair Phil Keisling, who served as Oregon Secretary of State from 1991-99.

As Vote at Home’s new Executive Director, Smith Warner will lead the organization’s education, research, advocacy, and partnership efforts to increase voters’ access to, use of, and confidence in getting their ballots delivered to them through the U.S. Postal Service to boost citizen engagement and voter turnout.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity to help expand Vote at Home’s reach and impact to more states and citizens across the country,” said Smith Warner. “As a legislator, I’ve seen how mailed out ballots can strengthen our democracy by making voting easier, more accessible, and more secure for all. As the Executive Director of NVAHI, I look forward to working with election officials, advocates, and partner organizations nationwide to bring the benefits of this safer, more equitable and cost-saving method of voting to all.”

“The evidence has become increasingly clear that ‘vote at home friendly’ policies receive bi-partisan support because they give voters more time and flexibility to make informed decisions up and down their ballots, while significantly boosting voter turnout,” added Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who also serves on NVAHI’s advisory circle. Michigan voters last November overwhelmingly approved a democracy reform ballot measure that includes such a “Single Sign up” provision.

“Barbara’s experience as a legislative leader will be especially useful in helping policy makers across the U.S. understand how much “vote at home” friendly policies can benefit all voters, regardless of which zip code they happen to live in, ” observed Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State and also an NVAHI advisor.

The National Vote at Home Institute is a non-partisan, 501-c-(3) organization that promotes a range of vote at home related policies, including (where practicable) the adoption of full “Vote at Home” election systems in which all registered voters automatically receive their ballots through the U.S. mail several weeks prior to every election.

Voters in such election systems – which do not require them to travel to traditional polling places or apply in advance for so-called absentee ballots — also enjoy multiple in-person opportunities for ballot receipt and return, in addition to other types of direct assistance for those who need or want it.

When NVAHI was founded in early 2018, this approach had been used statewide in just three U.S. states. In the November 2022 midterms, it was used in the District of Columbia and eight states – California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

Oregon, whose voters first adopted such a system in 1998, boasted the nation’s highest turnout rate among all eligible citizens in the recent 2022 midterm election: 62.4%, compared to the national average of 46.6%.

In addition, six other U.S. states – Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, and Virginia – now have “Single Sign up” policies (often called “permanent absentee lists”) so voters need only submit one request to enjoy the automatic delivery of their ballots via the U.S Mail for all future elections.

National Vote at Home Institute Launches New Mailed-Out Ballot Tracking and Forecasting Tool

Mailed-Out Ballot Estimation Tracker (MOBET) will provide key insights into 2022 election.

Today the National Vote at Home Institute (NVAHI) launched a new tool to help journalists, legislators, elections officials and the public forecast the likely level and impact of mailed-out ballots for the 2022 general election.

In the 2018 midterms, the US Election Assistance Commission reported about 42 million mailed-out ballots issued, with about 30 million of them returned. Returned mailed-out ballots constituted roughly 25% of all votes cast that year.

Our initial forecast (as of 10/14): Mailed-out ballot activity will increase at least 40% in 2022 versus 2018 levels – to an estimated 60 million mailed-out, with over 42 million returned.

Vote at Home’s MOBET information tool relies on official data originating from state and local election officials, some of it compiled by trusted sources including the U.S. Elections Project. (See Methodology below)

The MOBET tool presents mailed-out ballot totals – and eventual return rates – in four categories:

  • 9 “Vote at Home” (VAH) jurisdictions, where every active registered voter receives a ballot in the mail automatically for every election
  • 6 “No Excuse – Single Sign-Up” (NE/SSU) states, where any voter, through a single application, can sign up to automatically receive ballots for all future elections
  • 21 “No Excuse” (NE) states, where all voters are eligible to receive a ballot, but must request them for each specific election or every year
  • 15 “Excuse Required” (ER) states, where most voters are ineligible to apply for a mailed-out ballot, unless they meet a specific legally acceptable excuse

Many states where the voter must request a mailed-out ballot are not yet reporting their volume of requests. So, most states’ 2022 numbers will grow over the next few weeks as more voters apply for mailed-out ballots. For the 9 VAH states, mailed-out ballot growth will primarily result from increased voter registration totals.

As of October 14, 2022, NVAHI estimates that about 18 million more ballots will be mailed out in 2022, compared to 2018 — 60 million vs. 42 million — and that if historic return rates apply, at least 12 million more ballots will be returned (42 million vs 30 million).

In addition to providing 2018 benchmark information and showing current 2022 totals of mailed-out ballots, the table below includes estimates for eventual 2022 mailed-out ballots sent and return rates based on NVAHI research. (M = millions

State Group (*see key below(
Registered Voters as of 10/14
Percent of total US registered voters
2022 mailed-out ballots to be sent as of 10/14
2022 Estimated mailed-out ballots sent – on 11/8
2022 Estimated mailed-out ballots cast (turnout %)
2018 mailed ballots sent out
2018 mailed out ballots cast
Vote at Home (VAH)
38.7M
18.1%
38.7M
39.6M
25.7M (65%)
26.4M
17.1M
No Excuse – SSU
29.6M
13.9%
4.5M
5.8M
4.3M (74%)
4.4M
3.3M
No Excuse for all
79.5M
37.3%
10.6M
12M
10.2M (85%)
9.1M
7.8M
Excuse Required
65.5M
30.7%
<0.1M
2.6M
2.3M
2.5M
2.3M
Totals
213.2M (~215M expected by 11/8)
100%
53.8M
60M
42.6M (71%)
42.2M
30.4M

*VAH = CA, CO, DC, HI, NV, OR, UT, VT, WA

*No Ex-SSU = AZ, IL, MD, MT, NJ, VA

*No Ex = AK, FL, GA, ID, IA, KS, ME, MA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SD, WI, WY

*Ex Req.= AL, AR, CT, DE, IN, KY, LA, MS, MO, NH, NY, SC, TN, TX, WV

If the 2022 turnout rate matches 2018, that will equate to about 118 million votes cast, so mailed-out ballots will account for 35%.

That 35% is a remarkable jump from 25% just four years ago, this time with no COVID driver.

Finally, it is interesting to see how policy drives behavior. 

On average, mailed-out ballot utilization levels are:

  • Only about 4% of voters in Excuse Required states
  • That jumps almost 4x to 15% of voters in No Excuse states
  • And it jumps almost 5x to 20% of voters in No Excuse – Single Sign-up states

Better mailed-out ballot access policies are welcomed and embraced by voters.

Methodology:

While the best official source for mail ballot use in the 2022 election – the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s EAVS report – won’t be published until mid-2023, NVAHI has high confidence in the data presented here. In addition to our long-standing expertise and our daily monitoring of data from official sources, we are appreciative of data and analysis being compiled and made timely available to us and others by various other entities, most notably the U.S. Elections Project and Catalist (a major list vendor). Since some of this data is proprietary, our weekly summaries will aggregate individual state data into the four “policy buckets” mentioned above. However, we will publish and analyze some state-specific data if it’s entirely available from official public sources. One final note about terminology, and why we use “mailed-out ballots.” The MOBET tool focuses on how voters receive their ballots, not how they are ultimately cast. The term “vote by mail” can wrongly imply that mailed-out ballots must also be returned through the U.S. Postal Service. Although most mail ballots are returned this way, in many full “Vote at Home” election system states – e.g., Oregon and Colorado — more than 50% of mailed out ballots are actually cast in-person, as voters return them to secure drop boxes, official voting centers, or elections offices.
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Deliver My Vote Education Fund, National Vote at Home Institute, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation Announce New Research Publication

Deliver My Vote Education Fund, in partnership with National VoteAt Home Institute and The Andrew Goodman Foundation, is proud to announce a new research publication, Vote-By-Mail: Modeling Voter Participation in the 2018 Midterm Election, examining the difference between five vote-by-mail policies in place in the 2018 midterm elections and the impact of the policies on voter turnout.

“Deliver My Vote is proud to be the only national nonpartisan organization leading with vote-by-mail strategies, building a sustainable grassroots, field-based model of organizing for voter access, education, and research, while partnering and growing strategic capacity with local organizations. This research demonstrates that there are indeed opportunities to engage with and empower young voters and voters of color to access their ballots through the vote-by-mail process and build toward a stronger, more representative democracy. We are encouraged that states are expanding vote-by-mail options to give voters more opportunity and choice and the evidence supports the need for such access.” – Amanda Pohl, Executive Director of Deliver My Vote Education Fund

“This rigorous study makes an important contribution to an increasingly large body of evidence revealing that when mailed-out, paper ballots are made far more accessible, voter turnout goes up significantly,” noted Phil Keisling, chair of the National Vote at Home Institute. “This doesn’t just help voters — it strengths our democracy and makes it more representative.” As Oregon Secretary of State, Keisling led the 1998 effort to create the nation’s first “Vote at Home” election system in which all active registered voters automatically receive their ballots in the mail, a system that eight states will use in the 2022 midterms.

“The Andrew Goodman Foundation is thrilled to partner with Deliver My Vote on this exciting new research. Young voters are one of the most powerful forces in our democracy, so it is imperative that they are educated about what their voting options are and have the accessibility to cast their ballot by-mail or in-person. We are excited to continue our work with Deliver My Vote to ensure that young voices are heard in the upcoming midterms and future elections.” –Charles Imohiosen, Esq., President and CEO of The Andrew Goodman Foundation

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many states to respond quickly to the changing needs of voters – namely by expanding vote-by-mail programs in many states. This provided an opportunity to expand access, grow participation, and change the way elections are run. As we enter the election season two years later, many of these expanded policies remain in place. By adopting and strengthening vote-by-mail policies, states encourage access to the ballot and therefore reduce barriers to voter participation universally. These are bedrock principles to a healthy and inclusive democratic system. Research conclusively shows that vote-by-mail policies will help us achieve these goals.

In Vote-By-Mail: Modeling Voter Participation in the 2018 Midterm Election, the researcher demonstrates that more expansive vote-by-mail policies, especially Permanent Mail Ballot Options and Vote at Home policies, increase voter turnout. For example, counties moving from either Excuse Required or Excuse Required with anAge Waiver to No Excuse vote-by-mail would increase turnout 2 or 3 percentage points. Counties with No Excuse vote-by-mail increase another 2 to 3 percentage points when moving to a Vote at Home or Permanent Mail Ballot Option policy. Overall, for Excuse Required counties, moving to Vote at Home would increase turnout 4 percentage points; 5.1 percentage points if they moved to Permanent Mail Ballot Option.

Additionally, the research finds that Vote at Home policies are particularly impactful among younger voters across racial and ethnic groups. When looking at county-level data, younger counties with a median age of 44 or lower that have adopted VoteAt Home policies show a 4.2% boost in turnout. By exploring how vote-by-mail policies have already impacted the political landscape of the United States, we identify potential to radically expand access and participation for all voters, particularly young voters. This is especially relevant as young people are becoming more politically active and consequently exploring voting options.

These findings are consistent with Deliver My Vote Education Fund’s previous research during COVID-19 that shows young voters and voters of color turn out in higher numbers when given vote-by-mail options. In Vote By Mail in 2020 and Our Opportunity for 2022, we found that, state-by-state, low propensity voters were 10x more likely to cast a ballot if they had applied for a mail-in ballot in 2020. We also observed that young voters, especially voters of color, were more likely to vote if given vote-by-mail options. Voters of all backgrounds embraced vote-by-mail as a safe way to vote during the pandemic, while also realizing the remarkable convenience.

Effective vote-by-mail policies are critical tools to improve participation in elections at local, county, state, and federal levels. If voter activation is a priority, this research demonstrates that more expansive VBM policies lead to increased voter turnout, particularly among young voters who are often the most impacted by voter suppression tactics and restrictive vote-by-mail policies.

About Deliver My Vote Education Fund
Deliver My Vote Education Fund is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 organization focused on research and education about voting-by-mail. We support deeply embedded on-the-ground organizations with tools, expertise, and resources to build trust in the vote-by-mail process within historically disenfranchised communities of color. As an education fund, we focus on empowering all Black, Latino, AAPI, Indigenous, immigrant, and young voters within specific counties or localities that our grassroots 501(c)3 local partners identify as unserved or underserved areas.

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.

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 BlackAmericans to vote in Mississippi.

The National Vote At Home Institute on Florida Advancing Voting Rights

The National Vote at Home Institute has released a statement addressing the success of the 2020 election while also looking forward to the new challenges in voting that we face as a nation. Now is not the time for Florida to go backward.

According to recent national polling from Voting Rights Lab (VRL) that included Floridians, the American people are pleased with these policies as well. The NVAHI team issued the following as seven clear policies that can be passed to improve voting access in Florida:

  • Maintain and improve the single sign-up process for mail-in voting: According to national polling, 74% majority of Americans believe that all voters should have the option of voting using an absentee ballot in future elections, including majorities of Republicans (62%), independents (78%), and Democrats (86%).
  • Improve ballot tracking and voter notification: Allowing voters to track their ballot like an Amazon package is also cost-effective and can be seamlessly integrated into many voter registration systems. State bill H 103 would make significant progress in providing ballot tracking for Floridians if passed.
  • Create an online mail ballot request system
    • Provide postage-paid return envelopes: 73% of Americans support including pre-paid postage on absentee return envelopes. Florida bill H 103 would enact this rule.
  • Improve data integrity and infrastructure
  • Allow Election Day postmark acceptance: 60% of American’s oppose rejecting ballots mailed before Election Day but arriving later.
  • Increase options for ballot return: 70% of Americans approve of changes to increase voting options while only 26% disapprove.

To learn more about The National Vote At Home Institute and how the organization is changing the face of voting rights, visit www.voteathome.org

National Vote At Home Institute on Passing of SB202 in Georgia

The National Vote At Home Institute has released a statement following the passing of Senate Bill 202 in the Georgia State Legislature that was signed into law by Gov. Kemp last week: “Senate Bill 202 is a massive missed opportunity to move Georgia forward and build on the record participation of the 2020 election. The […]

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