Since March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., have conducted primary, runoff, or special elections. When the pandemic hit, it quickly became clear both that it would be necessary to dramatically increase absentee or mail voting options to protect public health and that the vast majority of voters preferred to vote absentee this year. The five states that typically hold their elections principally by mail, as well as those in which most voters typically vote absentee, did not have to change their election practices to ensure access to mail ballots.footnote1_THSsN-QY3xToT7Lnsv7lVijrSBmIWnZ4NuzCnJ0nj0_qn1TJgZKzdyP1Principally by mail: CO, HI, OR, UT, and WA; typically by absentee: AZ and CA. But in other states, which have a hodgepodge of obstacles to absentee voting, this shift required at least some significant changes to laws or practices.
During the primaries, states varied in the efforts they took to expand access to absentee or mail voting in light of the pandemic. The majority of states that did not already have expansive mail voting options on the books took significant steps to expand access to absentee voting for the primaries, the general election, or both, although there were notable exceptions.footnote2_0hyrfqsmxo6d5DmivapyhzCQwbgrGtBjcJU7G1Cwuc_oCYB84Hk6Mt52See “Changes to Election Dates, Procedures, and Administration in Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, 2020,” Ballotpedia, accessed July 22, 2020, https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_to_election_dates,_procedures,_and_administration_in_response_to_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic,_2020#Absentee_voting_procedure_changes. Some states, like Connecticut, Delaware, and Nevada, took especially robust steps. A handful of states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, made few or no changes to their voting procedures to promote increased absentee voting. Among the minority of states that have not willingly expanded access to mail-in voting, several have been compelled to do so by courts. Indeed, a record number of voting rights lawsuits have been filed in 2020, most of them in response to or otherwise pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic: At least 182 voting rights cases were filed between January 1 and September 15, 2020.footnote3_vXXlLmAqKDoxqsw09T45NzZsuz69oytZyy8QBO9ns_gg9naDptw18F3This number encompasses all manner of cases related to voters’ ability to access the polls, such as cases involving voter registration and purge issues, felony disenfranchisement, vote-by-mail, in-person early or Election Day voting, polling place safety, ballot order issues, and postponement or cancellation of primaries. Not included are cases involving candidacy issues, redistricting, or ballot initiatives. For additional information, see Brennan Center for Justice, “2020 Voting Rights Litigation,” September 15, 2020, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/court-cases/voting-rights-litigation-2020. Of those, 167 pertain to the pandemic, 147 involve vote-by-mail issues, and 41 involve polling place issues.footnote4_Gvb2IIVf9YUtJAHzdc1yIJqjLNKFNa3WGDElxiU3G-4_r1TPrOym6Mwq4A number of cases involve both vote-by-mail and in-person voting issues.
In general, changes to absentee voting fall into four categories: (1) expanding eligibility for absentee voting in the states that normally require an excuse to do so, (2) making it easier for voters to obtain absentee ballots by mailing ballot applications and/or ballots to all or a subset of registered voters, or by creating online ballot request systems, (3) making it easier to cast absentee ballots by including prepaid postage or providing safe ballot drop-off options, and (4) adjusting counting rules to prevent widespread disenfranchisement of eligible absentee voters.
End Notes
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footnote1_THSsN-QY3xToT7Lnsv7lVijrSBmIWnZ4NuzCnJ0nj0_qn1TJgZKzdyP
1
Principally by mail: CO, HI, OR, UT, and WA; typically by absentee: AZ and CA. -
footnote2_0hyrfqsmxo6d5DmivapyhzCQwbgrGtBjcJU7G1Cwuc_oCYB84Hk6Mt5
2
See “Changes to Election Dates, Procedures, and Administration in Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, 2020,” Ballotpedia, accessed July 22, 2020, https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_to_election_dates,_procedures,_and_administration_in_response_to_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic,_2020#Absentee_voting_procedure_changes. -
footnote3_vXXlLmAqKDoxqsw09T45NzZsuz69oytZyy8QBO9ns_gg9naDptw18F
3
This number encompasses all manner of cases related to voters’ ability to access the polls, such as cases involving voter registration and purge issues, felony disenfranchisement, vote-by-mail, in-person early or Election Day voting, polling place safety, ballot order issues, and postponement or cancellation of primaries. Not included are cases involving candidacy issues, redistricting, or ballot initiatives. For additional information, see Brennan Center for Justice, “2020 Voting Rights Litigation,” September 15, 2020, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/court-cases/voting-rights-litigation-2020. -
footnote4_Gvb2IIVf9YUtJAHzdc1yIJqjLNKFNa3WGDElxiU3G-4_r1TPrOym6Mwq
4
A number of cases involve both vote-by-mail and in-person voting issues.