What Is Mail-In Voting? COVID Expansion, Trump Attacks, and the 2024 Reality
Mail voting is older than the republic itself — soldiers voted by mail in the Civil War. The COVID-19 pandemic made it mains;font-size:1rem;max-width:640px;margin:0 0 8px;"> Mail voting is older than the republic itself — soldiers voted by mail in the Civil War. The COVID-19 pandemic made it mainstream. Today roughly one-third of all American votes are cast by mail, despite one of the most contentious debates in modern election law.
- Over 65 million Americans voted by mail in 2024; 34 states plus DC offer no-excuse mail voting; 5 states (OR, WA, CO, UT, HI) conduct elections entirely by mail
- Mail ballot fraud rates are under 0.003% — the Heritage Foundation's own database found ~1,300 proven cases across billions of ballots since 1988; courts rejected 61 of 62 post-2020 fraud challenges
- Trump's 2020 attacks on mail voting created a partisan split: Democrats voted by mail, Republicans in-person — causing the "red mirage" where Trump led on election night before mail ballots came in
- By 2024, Republicans reversed course and ran "bank your vote" mail programs — reflecting that mail voting itself was never the problem; the 2020 attacks were about delegitimizing results
Mail Voting Policies by State Type
| Policy Type | States | How It Works | Key Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-Mail Elections | 5 | Ballot mailed automatically to all registered voters; in-person drop options available | Oregon (since 2000), Washington, Colorado |
| No-Excuse Absentee | 29 + DC | Any voter can request mail ballot; no reason required; in-person voting also available | Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Arizona |
| Excuse-Required Absentee | 16 | Must provide approved reason (illness, travel, disability); varies by enforcement | Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana |
The Mail Voting Debate: Key Issues
In 2020, fearing in-person voting during a pandemic, 34 states expanded mail voting access — some for the first time. The result: 46% of all 2020 votes were cast by mail, up from 24% in 2016. Many states permanently kept the expanded rules after the election. Pennsylvania, which had never had no-excuse absentee voting before 2020, had over 2 million mail votes in 2020 — a system built from scratch in months with predictable administrative hiccups that became fodder for fraud claims.
Every mail ballot requires a voter signature, which election officials compare against the signature on file. Rejection rates for signature mismatch run 0.3% to 0.8% nationally. Many states have "ballot curing" processes: if a ballot is rejected for a missing or mismatched signature, the voter is notified and given a chance to fix it. States without curing (like Georgia before 2020) rejected thousands of ballots that would have been valid. Whether and how curing works is among the most litigated provisions of state election law.
Secure drop boxes for mail ballots became a major target of Republican legislation after 2020, following viral but unverified claims about "ballot mules." Georgia restricted drop boxes to indoor county election offices during business hours. Texas prohibited them entirely. Florida required them to be staffed. Drop boxes had been used in Republican-controlled states for years without controversy — Arizona's GOP used them in mail-primary operations. The post-2020 restrictions disproportionately affect urban voters who used drop boxes as an alternative to long mail delays.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline to request and return a mail ballot?
Deadlines vary dramatically by state. Request deadlines range from 7 days before the election (Georgia) to Election Day itself (several states). Return deadlines are equally varied: some states require ballots received by Election Day; others count ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within 3-7 days afterward. Missing the request deadline by even one day means losing the mail option. Voters should check their state's specific rules several weeks before any election, as the rules are frequently changed by legislation or litigation.
If I request a mail ballot, can I still vote in person?
In most states, if you have been issued a mail ballot, you must surrender it (bring the blank ballot to the polling place) to vote in person. If you cannot surrender it, most states allow you to cast a provisional ballot, which is counted after election officials verify you did not also cast a mail ballot. In all-mail states like Oregon, in-person drop locations are available. Attempting to vote both by mail and in person is illegal and is what election officials specifically screen for — it is far too easy to catch to be a viable fraud method.
What happened to the 61 court cases challenging 2020 mail voting?
Of the 62 legal challenges filed by the Trump campaign and allies after the 2020 election — most focusing on mail ballot handling — 61 were dismissed or ruled against. Cases failed in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, in courts presided over by judges appointed by both parties, including Trump-appointed judges. The cases were dismissed variously for lack of standing, insufficient evidence, failure to state a claim, or because the alleged irregularities were not sufficient in scale to change the outcome even if proven. No court found evidence of systematic fraud that affected the result.
