Postal voting in the United States, also referred to as mail-in voting or vote by mail, is a form of absentee ballot in the United States. A ballot is mailed to the home of a registered voter, who fills it out and returns it by postal mail or drops it off in-person at a secure drop box or voting center. Postal voting reduces staff requirements at polling centers during an election. All-mail elections can save money, while a mix of voting options can cost more. In some states, ballots may be sent by the Postal Service without prepayment of postage.
The availability of postal voting increases voter turnout. As of 2022, eight statesCalifornia, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington allow all elections to be conducted by mail. Five of these statesColorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washingtonhold elections "almost entirely by mail." Postal voting is an option in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Other states allow postal voting only in certain circumstances, though the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted further discussion about relaxing some of those restrictions.
There have been campaigns by both US politicians and foreign actors to undermine trust in mail-in voting with claims of widespread fraud. Election fraud in general is very rare in the United States, and although absentee-ballot fraud is more common than other forms, there were only 491 cases between 2000 and 2012, out of billions of votes cast. After repeatedly asserting that mail-in voting would result in widespread fraud in the run up to the 2020 United States presidential election, President Donald Trump indicated he would block funding for the Postal Service to ensure that postal votes would be processed securely or on time. Russia has also amplified criticisms of vote-by-mail in the US. Spurred on by Trump's claims of fraud, other Republican lawmakers initiated a push to roll back access to postal voting. In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Republican-led effort to bar mail in voting ballots from being counted after election days are held.
Rejection of legal mail-in ballots is a more significant challenge than fraud, involving ballots being discarded for reasons such as signature-related technicalities.
Process
Postal voting was initially intended for voters unable to go to the polling place on Election Day. Some states now allow mail-in ballots for convenience, but some still refer to them as absentee ballots. Some states that require an approved excuse to vote by mail allow voters with permanent disabilities apply for permanent absentee voter status, and some others allow all citizens to apply for permanent status so they will automatically receive an absentee ballot for each election. In others, a voter must apply for an absentee ballot before each election.
Ballots or applications for postal ballots are sent out before the election date, by a margin that depends on state law. In some states, a voter's pamphlet is also distributed. The election office prints a unique barcode on the return envelope provided for each ballot, so processing of each envelope can be tracked, sometimes publicly, and corresponding signature files can be loaded quickly to check the voter's signature on the envelope when it returns. Voters who lose the return envelope can still vote by obtaining another envelope from election officials, or in some jurisdictions by using a plain envelope.
To vote by mail, an individual marks the ballot for their choice of the candidates (or writes in their name), places it in the provided mailing envelope, seals it and signs and dates the back of the mailing envelope. Some jurisdictions use one envelope or privacy sleeve inside an outer envelope, for privacy. The envelope containing the ballot is then either mailed, or dropped off at a local ballot collection center.
The deadline is determined by state law. In some jurisdictions, postmarks are not counted, and ballots must be received by a certain time on election day. In other jurisdictions, a ballot must have a postmark on or before the day of the election and be received prior to the date of certification. Many vote-by-mail jurisdictions enlist the help of volunteers to take ballots in walk-up drop off booths or drive-up quick drop locations. The Help America Vote Act requires some polling options, often at central election headquarters, with voting machines designed for disabled people.
It is sometimes inaccurately claimed that absentee ballots are not counted unless the race is close; in fact, all valid absentee ballots are counted in every election and jurisdiction, even if they will not affect the outcome of an election. Counting of absentee ballots is usually done centrally. States vary in the rules about who may observe the counting. In New Hampshire, absentee ballots are sorted and transported to polling places for counting.
In the 2016 US Presidential election, approximately 33 million ballots were cast by postal vote, about a quarter of all ballots cast. In 2020, an estimated 42% of votes were conducted through mail-in voting. Some jurisdictions used only vote-by-mail and others absentee votes.
In April 2020, during lockdowns for the coronavirus pandemic, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 58% of American voters would favor nationwide election reform to allow everyone to vote by mail, and another 9% (total 67%) favor allowing it this year because of COVID-19. Pew Research found at the same time that 49% of Republicans and 87% of Democrats supported this measure.
Pre-processing of mail-in ballots One variable with a significant impact on both the speed of election reporting and public perception of election processes involves when processing of mail-in ballots is allowed to begin.
Forty-three states begin preparing mail or absentee ballots for counting before Election Day. This practice of pre-processing gives election officials more time to detect and address errors or irregularities in the ballots and to notify voters about ballots in need of correction (called curing the ballot).
States that do not allow pre-processing—including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—require officials to wait until Election Day to begin mail-in ballot verification and curing. This often delays the release of election results until several days after polls close.
The 2020 election in Pennsylvania illustrated the potential impact of the delay. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state received 2.6 million mail-in ballots, a tenfold increase compared to past elections. None of these by law could be processed until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Three times as many Democrats as Republicans had made use of the mail-in option. This combined with the required delay in processing to produce a switch from a Republican lead to a Democratic lead several days after the election as mail-in ballots were completed—which in turn fueled conspiracy theories falsely claiming vote tampering by officials.
Post election day mail-in ballot counting
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the 5-4 Watson v. Republican National Committee ruling, ruled against a Republican National Committee led effort to block counting of election day ballots in the time after election day is held in areas of the United States. History
Absentee voting in the United States first emerged in colonial America, when soldiers serving in the Continental Army and individuals who lived in homes that were "vulnerable to Indian attack" could utilize absentee voting. Absentee ballots were first used on a large scale for the military during the American Civil War. Early absentee voting laws restricted the practice to members of the armed services. The first allowance for civilian absentee voting was in Vermont in 1896. By 1938, 42 states allowed absentee voting for civilians. Nearly 2% of voters in the 1936 election voted through absentee ballots. Starting in the 1970s, more states began to offer no-excuse absentee voting, allowing voters the ability to vote absentee without needing an excuse.
The share of absentee voters has increased over time. Historically, one particularly prominent group who voted through absentee ballots were federal employees in Washington, D.C.
Expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant increase in postal ballots was expected. The National Vote at Home Institute, which advocates for postal ballots and is led by former Denver elections director Amber McReynolds, analyzed all states and found that 32 states were lacking necessary policies or procedures, including 15 states which lack steps to verify voters' addresses, 17 which do not mandate a signature verification process, and 30 do not have adequate options to cure defects in voter signatures. In many systems voters had no way to remedy disqualifications due to signature mismatches.
While members of Congress pushed to expand absentee voting and the CDC and other public health experts advised postal voting as a form of voting which minimizes in-person contact, the efforts were opposed by President Donald Trump, who viewed a higher turnout as potentially harmful to Republicans, beginning to make unsubstantiated claims about widespread fraud.
Restrictions during Trump's presidencies In July 2020, Trump suggested postponing the 2020 presidential election based on unsubstantiated claims about extensive postal voting fraud. The new, Trump-appointed administration of the United States Postal Service made changes which resulted in slower delivery of mail. Donald Trump openly stated that he opposes funding USPS because of mail-in voting. In September 2020, a federal judge issued an injunction against the recent USPS actions, ruling that Trump and DeJoy were "involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service", adding that the 14 states requesting the injunction "demonstrated that this attack on the Postal Service is likely to irreparably harm the states' ability to administer the 2020 general election".
The USPS warned that it could not guarantee that all ballots cast by mail in the 2020 election would arrive in time to be counted. For this reason, election experts advocated that postal ballots be mailed weeks in advance of election day. A March 2021 report from the Postal Service's inspector general found that the vast majority of mail-in ballots and registration materials in the 2020 election were delivered to the relevant authorities on time. The Postal Service handled approximately 135 million pieces of election-related mail between September 1 and November 3, delivering 97.9% of ballots from voters to election officials within three days, and 99.89% of ballots within seven days.
In several court cases in 2020, Republicans in national and state legislatures have pushed to restrict access or place more stringent limitations upon postal voting while Democrats have pushed to expand it or lift restrictions.
In 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14248 titled "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections", instructing the U.S. Post Office to implement significant restrictions on mail-in voting. Specifically, the executive order called for election officials to submit an allowlist of registered voters, and anyone attempting to vote via mail that is not on the list would have their ballot rejected. This would be enforced by the U.S. Postal Service, not state election authorities. Additionally, all mail-in ballots would need to be redesigned to follow a standardized design. Attempts to implement this system for the 2026 midterm elections were blocked twice in court, with litigation still pending as of September 2026.
Turnout