This component explores the origins and growth of absentee voting in the United States. Students should begin with the understanding that absentee voting, like many election procedures, was historically shaped by the states. For most of U.S. history, voting took place in person on a single day, and those unable to physically appear at the polls were often excluded from participating.
Absentee voting first emerged during the Civil War, when states enacted temporary measures to allow Union soldiers to cast ballots while away from home. Though controversial at the time, these measures established a precedent that voting could take place outside a traditional polling place, under certain conditions. Later, during World War II, absentee voting expanded dramatically to include millions of Americans serving overseas. This led to increased federal involvement, including the eventual passage of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) in 1986, guaranteeing absentee voting rights for military personnel and U.S. citizens living abroad.
By the late 20th century and early 2000s, many states began adopting “no-excuse” absentee voting, allowing any registered voter to request a mail-in ballot. A few states, like Oregon and Washington, went further by implementing universal vote-by-mail elections, where every voter receives a ballot by mail without needing to request one.
The most dramatic expansion of absentee voting came in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted nearly every state to temporarily relax absentee voting rules, resulting in more than 65 million Americans voting by mail, the highest in U.S. history.
Understanding this evolution allows students to analyze how absentee voting has been used to both expand and regulate participation, and how national emergencies and federal action have shaped what was once a highly localized practice.
Exercises for this component:
- Identify two key moments in U.S. history that led to major expansions of absentee voting access.
- What does UOCAVA guarantee, and who does it protect?
- Explain the difference between excuse-required absentee voting and no-excuse absentee voting.
- Why did absentee voting expand so dramatically in 2020? What challenges did this create?
- Describe one benefit and one concern often associated with vote-by-mail systems.