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The Evolution of Mail-In Voting in America
Casting a ballot by mail has become a convenient and popular option for older people
AARP (Getty Images,2)
Key takeaways
- The share of people casting ballots by mail has steadily risen for nearly 30 years.
- Voting remotely has a long history in America.
- AARP is nonpartisan and does not take a stance on whether mail-in voting should be expanded.
Janice Frater remembers what it was like before her state switched to all-mail voting: She would get off work, pick up her daughter, hustle to her voting precinct, wait in line and begin marking her ballot—“all the while feeling tense because there was a line behind me,” she says.
“There’s no good reason for that,” adds the 69-year-old from Portland, Oregon. The state pioneered all-mail balloting in 1993.
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Today, Frater’s now-adult daughter comes over before each election for a family-room discussion about the candidates and special measures up for a vote. Then they mark their ballots and take them to a nearby drop box. The notion of standing in line to accomplish the task? “Ridiculous,” Frater says.
As the nation moves toward pivotal midterm elections, the way people vote is once again the center of attention. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would give the federal government more control over voting procedures that up until now have resided with the states.
Nearly two dozen states with Democratic governors or attorneys general, joined by voting rights groups, have sued to stop the executive order. While the courts work things out, elections are proceeding as normal.
And for a growing proportion of voters, “normal” means filling in a ballot at the kitchen table, not a polling place.
Just under 30 percent of voters cast their ballots by mail (or drop box) in 2024. That’s down from the pandemic-fueled high of 43 percent in 2020, but the share of those voting that way has steadily risen for almost 30 years, according to an MIT Election Data and Science Lab analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. It’s the preferred way to vote for older Americans: Nearly 37 percent of those 65 and older voted by mail or drop box in 2024, census data shows — more than voting early in person (32 percent) or at the polls on Election Day (30 percent).
Heading into the midterm elections, 29 states offer “no-excuse” absentee voting, allowing people to request and cast absentee ballots without needing to provide a reason why, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eight states plus Washington, D.C., conduct all-mail elections. The rest offer limited absentee voting, with voters asked to provide a reason to receive a ballot.
An expansion triggered by the pandemic
AARP doesn’t have a stance on whether voting by mail should be expanded — we just want to make sure older Americans can vote. During the election of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic — when states were rapidly adapting to make sure people could vote safely — that meant expanding voter education to keep people aware of all the changes. “We’re for full electoral participation by our constituency,” says John Hishta, AARP’s senior vice president of campaigns.
Voting remotely has a long and storied history in America. Its roots are in the Civil War, when deployed Union soldiers were allowed to vote in the 1864 presidential election. The balloting took place in encampments and other locations, and a clerk recorded and mailed in the tally sheet — an example of which was part of a 2024 exhibition at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.
“There were soldiers fighting away from home and a presidential election that was going to be pretty important,” says Carrie Villar, director of curatorial affairs at the museum. The practice expanded along with the country, she adds. The museum’s collection includes photos of everyone from President Calvin Coolidge and first lady Grace voting by mail in 1924 to astronaut Drew Morgan, who voted via absentee ballot from the International Space Station in 2019.
But the practice didn’t really start to take off until the 1980s, when a county clerk in Oregon named Del Riley proposed sending real ballots to all voters instead of just sample ones. The idea caught on, and in 1998 Oregon voters passed a referendum to institute vote-by-mail for all of the state’s elections.
A 2025 Brookings Institution report cited studies saying certain forms of mail voting can increase voter turnout, with universal vote-by-mail states or counties seeing a participation boost of at least 2 percentage points.
“Going to the polls is a very familiar and, to some, beloved tradition,” says Phil Keisling, a former Oregon secretary of state who helped with the transition to its all-mail system. “But the essence of democracy is participation.”
Join Our Fight to Make Sure Your Vote Counts
AARP is a nonpartisan organization that never supports or opposes candidates for office. We believe the right to vote is fundamental and we advocate for policies ensuring that Americans 50 and older can exercise that right without unnecessary barriers. Here’s what you can do to help:
- Learn more about voting in your state this year.
- Pledge to vote for candidates in 2026 who will protect and strengthen Social Security and support family caregivers.
- Sign up to become an AARP activist for the latest news and alerts on issues you care about.
- AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Become a member or renew your membership today.
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