Washington Monthly – It is increasingly clear that vote by mail boosts election participation and that whichever party does the most to convince its voters to utilize mail ballots will have an edge in November.

Washington City Paper – D.C.’s decision to mail ballots to every eligible voter helped boost participation in wards 7 and 8. And that’s no small thing, considering that politicians have been puzzling over how to reach more people in the city’s poorest, most underserved neighborhoods basically ever since the mayor-for-life finished his last term in office.

PBS NewsHour – A wide expansion of mail-in voting in Pennsylvania survived a legal challenge on Tuesday before the state Supreme Court in a case brought by some of the same Republican state representatives who voted for the legislation nearly three years ago.

NECN – A new state law in Vermont means voters can get a second chance to ensure their ballot is counted if they made certain mistakes in filling them out in early voting.

New Jersey Monitor – Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday signed a package of seven election bills into law the governor said will make democracy in New Jersey stronger, more accessible, and more transparent. The bills — which do everything from allowing minors to serve as poll workers to permitting the counting of mail-in ballots prior to Election Day — passed the Legislature in June before lawmakers went on their customary summer recess.

AP – The United States Postal Service is creating a division to handle election mail issues as part of an effort to ensure swift and secure delivery of ballots for the 2022 midterm election, officials said Wednesday.

Delaware Public Media – Gov. John Carney (D) signed two election reform bills Friday, enabling Delawareans to register to vote on election day and to vote by mail. And both immediately drew a court challenge on constitutional grounds.

Washington Monthly – In 1638, the white, landowning Puritan men of the Massachusetts Bay Colony gathered on Election Day to vote for a new colonial governor. For the next 380 years, the franchise expanded, but the citizens of what became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts continued to vote in the same manner: by showing up on Election Day to cast ballots at polling places. While other states, particularly in the West, made voting convenient by mailing citizens their ballots, the Bay State stuck to its old ways. 

AP – The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots during the 2020 election did not lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that could have affected the results.

The Fulcrum – While midterm primaries draw lower participation rates than other elections, states have demonstrated a wide range in turnout numbers in 2022. And nearly every state that predominantly relies on voting by mail has outperformed the national midpoint this year.