Mail Voting is Under Attack (Again)

President Trump recently announced a plan to exceed his constitutional authority and issue an executive order to “get rid of mail ballots.” Voting by mail is widely popular, with 48 million Americans choosing to vote this way in 2024. Currently, all 50 states and D.C. offer mail voting. Twenty-one states and D.C. currently use mail voting as their default voting method for all or some elections. Only 14 states require voters to provide a qualifying excuse to vote by mail.

Within days of issuing this proclamation, however, the White House reversed course and announced Trump would pursue a legislative end to mail voting through Congress and allied state legislatures. This playbook is all too familiar. 

All year, we’ve tracked how Trump’s agenda has played out in state legislatures. This is where his allies are passing legislation to inject chaos into election administration and make it harder for Americans to cast a ballot, whether in person or by mail. In fact, this year alone, 41 states considered 175 bills that would restrict mail voting in some way, though only 12 of these bills passed in 10 states so far. With Trump’s renewed attack on mail voting, we can expect to see an increase in legislative restrictions on mail voting. In turn, we’ll likely see public confidence in this voting method — and our elections more broadly — erode further ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. To combat this disinformation, in this analysis we explain what mail voting is and how it works.

Mail Voting is Safe, Secure, and Reliable

Our election system depends on a system of rigorous checks and balances. This system ensures our elections are secure and every valid ballot is counted. Just like voting on Election Day, voters who cast their ballots by mail have their identity and eligibility verified by teams of local officials:

• Double Verification: Mail voters’ identities and eligibility are often checked twice — first when applying for their ballot and again when returning it. In many states, voters must provide more than just a name and address for verification to either request or return a ballot, or to do both.
• Verification Methods: Every state requires elections officials to check the outer ballot envelope of a mail ballot to ensure it contains all the required information, such as the voter’s name, address, and signature. In most states, teams of election officials compare the signature on a mail ballot with the voter’s signature on file. In other states, mail ballots are verified using unique identifying numbers, such as the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number or their driver’s license number. In the most onerous states, voters must have their ballot notarized or signed by one or more witnesses.
• Ballot Tracking: Nearly all states use technology to track ballots through the mail, creating comprehensive audit trails that ensure election officials receive and count every lawful ballot.

Ballot Curing Adds Extra Layer of Accuracy 

Thirty-two states use a process often called “ballot curing,” which allows eligible voters to fix simple, common mistakes on their ballot envelopes, such as a missing signature. This also gives local election officials another opportunity to verify voters’ identities. That’s why in the past five years at least 21 states across the political spectrum — from Texas to California — have created, codified, or improved their cure system.

Mail Voting is Not Partisan — It’s Practical

For decades, mail voting has helped everyday Americans participate in our democracy: seniors, people with disabilities, voters in rural areas, military and overseas voters, first responders, and others who cannot easily vote in person on Election Day. Additionally, allowing voters to cast their ballots by mail reduces wait times for voters and polling place capacity concerns on Election Day. In states that pair strong access to mail voting with policies allowing election officials to pre-process ballots, mail voting contributes to faster election results reporting.

Importantly, there is no evidence that mail voting — or any one voting method — specifically favors one political party or another. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the U.S. Census analyses of the 2024 election, mail voting remained a go-to option for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents: 

• Mail voting accounted for nearly a third of all ballots cast in 2024. 
• Older Americans rely on mail voting the most: 37% of voters over 65 cast mail ballots in 2024, compared to 26% of younger voters. 
• Republicans rely on mail voting, too: It’s also popular in states that Trump won by large margins, including among voters in Utah (margin: Trump +22, ballots cast by mail: 91%), Arizona (margin: Trump +6, ballots cast by mail: 75% ), and Indiana (margin: Trump +19; ballots cast by mail: 54%) and swing states that went for Trump in 2024, such as Nevada (margin: Trump +3, ballots cast by mail: 44%) and Michigan (margin: Trump +1, ballots cast by mail: 35%). In Pennsylvania, GOP mail ballot usage rose from 25% in 2020 to 32% in 2024 — the year Trump won the state (margin: Trump +2).

States Are Following Trump’s Marching Orders

Since Trump started attacking mail voting over the last several years, his allies in state legislatures have chipped away at mail voting access. Trump’s executive order earlier this year refocused those attacks on postmark deadlines and military voters. We should expect to see the president’s allies in the states call for much broader and more detrimental attacks on mail voting in response to his latest criticism. 

Postmark Deadlines

This year, there was a concerted effort to pass laws that would bar election officials from counting mail ballots received after Election Day, even if they are postmarked on or before Election Day. In many states, this change puts voters at the mercy of unpredictable mail delivery and could result in officials tossing out tens of thousands of otherwise-valid votes.

In all, 12 states — out of 18 that started the year with postmark deadlines — considered bills that would require ballots to be received by the close of polls, regardless of when the voter mailed them. Three states — Kansas, North Dakota, and Utah — have already eliminated these postmark grace periods. As a result, officials may throw away otherwise-valid ballots, even if they were mailed on time. 

Targeting Military Voters Voting by Mail

Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas have proposed new barriers for overseas and military voters, including burdensome proof of citizenship and narrowed residency requirements for voting by mail. None of these bills passed in 2025, but they signal a dangerous trend. One clear example occurred in North Carolina, where Judge Jefferson Griffin demanded that courts invalidate thousands of military votes in a dubious lawsuit that dragged on for months. Griffin eventually conceded after a federal court order.

Historic Reversal in Utah

This year, Utah became the first state to end its use of universal mail voting, effective January 1, 2029, bowing to national pressure after years of bipartisan popularity and success. “Universal mail voting” refers to the practice of sending a mail ballot to every registered voter, and they can choose whether to use it. Utah was one of 21 states to do this for some or all elections.

What Comes Next

Mail voting has been a secure option in the United States for well over a century, dating back to the Civil War. Today, teams of local election officials follow a rigorous set of checks and balances to keep all aspects of our elections secure, including mail voting. 

As the 2026 midterms approach, voters should be vigilant about continued, unfounded attacks on mail voting — a safe, secure, and reliable voting method that millions of Americans rely on to make their voices heard. Get the latest on state legislation related to mail ballots here.