Absentee ballot

Last updated

An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online voting. Increasing the ease of access to absentee ballots is seen by many as one way to improve voter turnout through convenience voting, though some countries require that a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel, be given before a voter can participate in an absentee ballot. Early voting overlaps with absentee voting. Early voting includes votes cast before the official election day(s), by mail, online or in-person at voting centers which are open for the purpose. Some places call early in-person voting a form of "absentee" voting, since voters are absent from the polling place on election day. [1]

Contents

In the electoral terminology of some countries, such as Australia, "absentee voting" means specifically a vote cast at a different polling station to one to which the voter has been allocated. "Early voting", "proxy voting" or "postal voting" are separate concepts in these countries. The history of absentee voting dates back to the 19th century, and modern-day procedures and availability vary by jurisdiction. Absentee voting may be available on demand, or limited to individuals meeting certain criteria, such as a proven inability to travel to a designated polling place. Many electors are required to apply for absentee voting, although some may receive a postal ballot by default. In some elections postal voting is the only voting method allowed and is referred to as all-postal voting. Typically, postal votes must be mailed back on or before the scheduled election day. However, in some jurisdictions return methods may allow for dropping off the ballot in person via secure drop boxes or at voting centers.

Electoral laws typically allow for the integrity and secrecy of the submitted ballot to be maintained, and stipulate a series of checks to protect against voter fraud. Voting at a distant polling place is subject to the same controls as voting locally, though distant staff are less likely to recognize an impersonator than local staff. Voting by mail is sometimes controlled by using security printing, such as special paper, [2] or by requiring signatures of voters and sometimes witnesses, though signature comparisons have 10-14% error rates. [3] Thousands of ballots fail these checks and are rejected. [4] Evidence of fraud is uncommon. While postal voting has a greater risk of fraud than in-person voting, on an absolute level cases of known fraud are extremely rare. [5]

Methods

Voting at a different polling station

Among countries where voters are allocated to one or several specific polling station(s) (such as the polling station closest to the voter's residential address, or polling stations within a particular district, province or state), some countries provide a mechanism by which voters can nevertheless cast their ballots on election day at a different polling station.

The reasons for allocating voters to specific polling stations are generally logistical. Absentee voting at a different polling station might be catered for by, for example, designating some larger polling stations as available for absentee voting, and equipping such polling stations with the ballot papers (or the means to produce ballot papers) applicable to an absentee voter.

Postal voting

In a postal vote, the ballot papers are posted out to the voter – usually only on request – who must then fill them out and return them, often with the voter's signature and sometimes a witness signature to prove the voter's identity. [6] Signature verification is an imperfect endeavor; the best academic researchers have 10-14% error rates. [3] Some jurisdictions use special paper, ballot tracking, or printing to minimize forged ballots. [2] [7]

All-postal voting

All-postal voting is the form of postal voting where all electors receive their ballot papers through the post, not just those who requested an absentee ballot. Depending on the system applied, electors may have to return their ballot papers by post, or there may be an opportunity to deliver them by hand to a specified location.

There is some evidence that this method of voting leads to higher turnout than one where people vote in person or have to apply for a postal vote. Critics suggest that this is only a temporary impact, and that there are dangers in people using ballot papers intended for other electors.[ citation needed ]

It has been tested by a large number of local authorities in the United Kingdom for their elections, and in 2004 it was used for elections to the European Parliament and local authorities in four of the English regions (see below for more details). In 2016, the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was conducted via all-postal voting with a turnout of 79.5 percent.

Proxy voting

To cast a proxy vote, the user appoints someone as their proxy , by authorizing them to cast or secure their vote in their stead. The proxy must be trusted by the voter, as in a secret ballot there is no way of verifying that they voted for the correct candidate. In an attempt to solve this, it is not uncommon for people to nominate an official of their chosen party as their proxy.

Internet voting

Security experts have found security problems in every attempt at online voting, [8] [9] [10] [11] including systems in Australia, [12] Estonia [13] [14] Switzerland, [15] Russia, [16] [17] [18] and the United States. [19] [8] More information is in the sections for each country below.

Online voting is widely used privately for shareholder votes. [20] [21] The election management companies do not promise accuracy or privacy. [22] [23] [24] In fact one company uses an individual's past votes for research, [25] and to target ads. [26]

By country

Australia

In Australia the term "absentee ballot" refers specifically to the procedure used when a voter attends a voting place which is not in the electoral district in which they are registered to vote. Instead of marking the ballot paper and putting it in the ballot box, the voter's ballot paper is placed in an envelope and then it is sent by the voting official to the voter's home district to be counted there. [27]

Postal voting and early voting are separate procedures also available to voters who would not be in their registered electoral districts on a voting day. At the 2016 Australian federal election, there were 1.2 million postal votes cast, amounting to 8.5 percent of total votes. [28]

Postal voting in Australia was introduced for federal elections in 1902, and first used at the 1903 election. It was abolished by the Fisher government in 1910, following claims that it was open to abuse and biased towards rural voters. The Cook government's bill to restore postal voting was one of the "triggers" for the double dissolution prior to the 1914 election. Postal voting was eventually restored by the Hughes government in 1918 and has not been challenged since, although the provisions and requirements have been amended on a number of occasions. [29]

Prior to Federation in 1901, Western Australia introduced a form of postal voting in 1877 with strict eligibility criteria. South Australia introduced postal voting for seamen in 1890, [30] and a further act in 1896 gave postal votes to any elector who would be more than 15 miles (24 km) from home on election day, as well as for any woman unable to travel "by reason of her health". Victoria passed a similar law in 1899, and the first federal postal voting legislation was also modelled on the 1896 South Australian act. [29]

Procedure in Australia

Postal voting at a federal level is governed by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and administered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Postal votes are available to those who will be absent from their electoral division through travel, or who those are unable to attend a polling booth due to illness, infirmity, "approaching childbirth", caring responsibilities, reasonable fears for their safety, religious beliefs, imprisonment, status as a silent elector, or employment reasons. [31]

Eligible voters may make a postal vote application (PVA) prior to each election, or apply for status as a "general postal voter" and receive a postal ballot automatically. Postal voters receive their ballot(s) and a prepaid envelope containing their name and address, as well as a predetermined security question from the PVA. Voters are required to sign the envelope and provide the correct answer to the security question. They are also required to have a witness sign and date the envelope. [32] As of 2016, postal votes were able to be received and entered into the count up to 13 days after election day. Following the 2016 election, it was observed that the strict scrutiny process afforded to postal votes was a "significant contributor" to delays in declaring the results of close elections. [28]

Austria

Austria enabled postal voting in 2007 by amending Article 26 of the Constitution of Austria. Electors request an electoral card that can be completed in person or in private and sent via post. In the 2017 election, roughly 780,000 postal ballots were cast representing 15% of all ballots. [33]

Canada

The ability to vote when in-person voting is not possible was first introduced with the federal Military Voters Act in 1917, giving all Canadian soldiers and their spouses the right to vote. Public servants became eligible in 1970. The right was further extended to civilian support personnel on Canadian Forces bases in the 1977. In 1993, Bill C-114 extended the special ballot vote (Special Voting Rules) by mail to all Canadian citizens. [34]

Use of special voting rules including vote by mail has grown with each election. In the 42nd general election (2015), the number of voters increased by 117 percent over the previous election to roughly 619,000. [35] This number grew to roughly 660,000 in the 43rd election (2019) representing 3.6 percent of electors. [36]

Estonia

Since 2005, Estonia has allowed voters to cast votes via the Internet (encrypted to protect voter anonymity); 2% of Estonians cast ballots via the Internet initially, and 44% did so in 2019. [37] The Estonian Internet-voting system uses the Estonian national identity card, which is associated with a PINs unique to each voter: "all Estonians are issued a government ID with a scannable chip and a PIN number that gives them a unique online identity — they can use this identity to file their taxes or pay library fines or buy bus passes." [38]

The security of the Estonian I-voting system remains a matter of debate.

Finland

Finland introduced vote by post in 2019, but only for the eligible voters living permanently abroad or staying abroad at the time of the elections. Vote by post is not available for voters residing in Finland. [39]

France

France allows voting by "procuration", which is literally proxy voting. [40] It has been said access to it has been eased in regard to the coronavirus pandemic. [41]

In the 2012 French legislative election, French citizens living abroad were permitted to cast votes electronically in the parliamentary elections (but not in the presidential election). In 2017, however, the system was dropped after the French National Cybersecurity Agency assessed an "extremely high risk" of cyberattacks in the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. [42]

Germany

Absentee voting has existed in Germany since 1957, originally in order to ensure that all German citizens, especially the old, sick, and disabled, and citizens living abroad, have the opportunity to participate in elections. At first, postal voters had to state why they could not cast their vote in person on Election Day; but this requirement has been dropped in 2008, allowing everyone to use postal voting. Like in many other countries, in more recent years, voting by mail has become increasingly popular among younger and non-disabled citizens residing within the country; as such, various tools Archived 2021-03-10 at the Wayback Machine are being developed to help citizens, both domestic and abroad, more easily apply for postal voting. [43]

Hungary

Hungarian citizens living abroad who do not have an official address in Hungary are allowed to vote by mail. [44] They are only allowed to vote for party lists, but not for local representatives. [45] In the last parliamentary election in 2018, 267,233 votes (4.6% of all votes) were submitted via mail. 48% of all valid postal votes were submitted from Romania. [46] [47]

India

Only certain categories of people are eligible to register as postal voters. The Representation of the People Act-1950 [48] (RPA) section 20(8) allows postal ballots for people on polling duty; members of the armed forces and state police as well as their spouses; employees of the Government of India who are officially posted abroad; and the President;, these are also called service voters. [49] [50] [51] Additionally, people in preventive detention, disabled and those above the age of 65 years old can use postal vote. Prisoners can not vote at all. [52] [53] [54]

Postal voting in India is done only through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers (ETPB) system of the Election Commission of India, where ballot papers are distributed to the registered eligible voters and they return the votes by post. When the counting of votes commences, these postal votes are counted first before the counting of votes from the electronic voting machines of all other voters.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged that postal ballots "will adversely effect the verifiability of a large number of voters, thus, transparency and integrity of the process", and expressed concerns with "instances of manipulation and malpractice" with postal ballots. [55] [56] [57]

Section 20 of the RPA-1950 disqualified non-resident Indians (NRI) from getting their names registered in the electoral rolls. Consequently, it also prevented non-residents from voting. In August 2010, Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill-2010 which allows voting rights to NRI's was passed in both Lok Sabha with subsequent gazette notifications on Nov 24, 2010. [58] With this NRI's could vote in Indian elections if physically present at the time of voting. Civic society organizations have urged the government to amend the RPA act to allow NRI's and people on the move to cast their vote through absentee ballot system. [59] [60] [61]

Indonesia

Postal voting documents sent to an Indonesian voter in the United Kingdom during the 2019 Indonesian general election. Indonesian abroad postal voting package (2019).jpg
Postal voting documents sent to an Indonesian voter in the United Kingdom during the 2019 Indonesian general election.

Eligible Indonesians living abroad are able to vote by mail in national elections by registering at the Indonesian overseas election commission in their country of residence. Besides presidential elections, they are also able to vote in DPR elections. All overseas Indonesian voters are included in the Jakarta 2nd constituency, which also contains Central and South Jakarta. [62]

Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, postal votes are used in Seanad Éireann elections for the university constituencies and the vocational panels, both of which have restricted franchises. Otherwise, postal voting is only available in a restricted set of circumstances. The Irish constitution requires a secret ballot and the courts have interpreted this quite narrowly. Postal votes are available to people who by reason of their occupation cannot vote normally. They are also available to students living away from home, to people with disabilities, to prisoners (since January 2007), and to long term residents of hospitals, nursing homes and other similar institutions.

Israel

Israel does not have an absentee ballot system for all citizens. Absentee ballots are restricted to soldiers, prisoners, sailors, overseas diplomats, disabled persons and hospitalized people. The votes are not cast directly but placed in a double envelope with identifying information and counted directly by the elections committee only after verifying that the voter has not voted at his or her official polling station. Most absentee ballots are cast the day of the elections in alternate polling stations. Early voting is limited to civil servants overseas. There is no postal voting.

Italy

Electoral package sent to an Italian voter in South America during the 2013 Italian general election. Plico elettorale Italia 2013.jpg
Electoral package sent to an Italian voter in South America during the 2013 Italian general election.

Since 2001 Italian citizens living abroad have the right to vote by mail in all referendums and national elections being held in Italy (provided they had registered their residence abroad with their relevant consulate).

Malaysia

In Malaysia, opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim alleged that postal votes have been used by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in securing seats in certain constituencies. [63] He also said that in one particular constituency (Setiawangsa), he claimed that his Parti Keadilan Rakyat had actually won during the 2008 elections, before 14,000 postal votes came in awarding the incumbent BN parliamentarian the seat with a majority of 8,000 votes. [64] In Malaysia, only teachers, military personnel, and policemen based away from their constituencies are eligible to submit postal votes.

Mexico

Postal ballot paper for Mexico federal election 2012 Boleta electoral marcada, de las elecciones federales de Mexico de 2012.JPG
Postal ballot paper for Mexico federal election 2012

In Mexico, since the 2006 federal elections, postal voting for people living abroad has been permitted. A request can be made to the National Electoral Institute which then sends the ballots outside the country.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, liberalised proxy voting is available. Voters can authorise someone else to cast their ballot without having to go through a registration procedure. Voters can cast a maximum of 2 proxy votes along with their own ballot. Postal ballots and Internet voting are only available to Dutch citizens living abroad, or having occupational duties abroad on election day. [65]

Electronic voting was banned in the Netherlands in 2007, and in 2017 Dutch authorities also abandoned electronic vote counting, conducting an all-paper, all-manual vote count in an effort to block foreign interference in its elections. [66]

Philippines

As provided by the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, absentee voting in Philippine elections is only available in certain circumstances, such as for Overseas Filipino Workers or other migrants. Votes must be cast in person at select polling places, such as a consulate office; mail-in ballots are an option for Filipinos in select countries. Local absentee voting as pursuant to Republic Act No. 7166 and Executive Order No. 157 is only available for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and government personnel on duty on election day. [67] The absentee voting in both overseas and local is still manual vote counting system.

Recently, absentee voting in Hong Kong and Singapore was done through the optical scan voting due to COMELEC Resolution No. 8806 in the 2010 general elections. [68]

Absentee voters can only vote for candidates elected by the entire electorate: the President, Vice President, senators, and party-list representatives.

Poland

In Poland, each citizen registered in the local voters' register, can get an absentee voter's certificate (AVC), which is a piece of paper with the person's details and the local government's stamp. The person can vote with AVC at every polling station countrywide and worldwide (in Polish embassies and consulates; the polling stations abroad are created by the Minister of Foreign Affairs before every elections). An AVC is issued only for President of Poland elections, parliamentary elections and elections to the European Parliament (in that case, the AVC can be got by Polish or EU citizen, so the EU citizen can vote for Polish deputies at polling station in Poland and Polish embassies or consulates, or for deputies from the country of origin. Although, if the EU citizen registers himself in the Polish voters' register, the local officials informs appropriate office in the country of origin). In case of Senate by-elections, AVC may be issued only for voters living and registered in given single-member constituency.

Postal voting and proxy voting are also possible. Postal voting is possible both in country and abroad, but proxy voting is possible only in Poland. The proxy must be registered at the same local voters' register as a voter. The mail with the voter's ballot in postal voting is free of charge in Poland, but voter resides abroad must pay to send his ballot to the appropriate consulate.

Spain

In Spain, for European, regional and municipal elections, voters who will be absent from their town on election day or are ill or disabled, may request a postal vote at a post office. The application must be submitted personally or through a representative in case of illness or disability certified by a medical certificate.

Switzerland

Swiss federal law allows postal voting in all federal elections and referendums, [69] and all cantons also allow it for cantonal ballot issues. All voters receive their personal ballot by mail and may either cast it at a polling station or mail it back. As of 2019, approximately 90% of Swiss voters cast ballots using Remote Postal Voting. [70]

In Switzerland, starting in 2004, 15 cantons conducted electronic voting pilot programs. In three cantons, Swiss voters resident abroad voted electronically; Geneva Canton, Canton of Neuchâtel, and Basel-Stadt. The programs were closed in June and July 2019, and the plan is for new designs to be available by 2023. [71]

In 2019 the Swiss government invited researchers to test the security of online voting, and in early March 2019 researchers found back doors which let insiders, and hackers who accessed management systems, change results without detection. [15]

Thailand

Absentee balloting started in Thailand first time in the 2000 general election. It is promulgated according to a provision in the 1997 constitution. The absentee ballot can be cast within Thailand and in foreign countries, where Thailand has diplomatic missions. Voters can cast the absentee ballot in 2 cases: (1) those who have their household registration in their constituency but will not be at their constituency on the election day, and wish to cast their vote in advance; and (2) those who physically reside in other locations out of their constituency at least 90 days prior to the election day, and will not be able to travel back to their constituency on the election day.

In both cases, voters wishing to cast their absentee ballot must register with the election committee 30 days in advance prior to the general election date. Voters within Thailand can cast their vote either at the designated district offices for absentee voting in their provinces or through mail. Likewise, voters overseas can register to vote with the Thai missions in their country of residence or send the ballot to them by mail. The absentee voting date is normally designated a week ahead of the general election date. [72] [73]

United Kingdom

Absentee voting in the United Kingdom is allowed by proxy or post (known as postal voting on demand) for any elector. Postal voting does not require a reason, [74] apart from in Northern Ireland, where postal voting is available only if it would be unreasonable to expect a voter to go to a polling station on polling day as a result of employment, disability or education restrictions.

Proxy voting is allowed for people who will be away, working, or medically disabled. [75] Anyone eligible to vote in the election may be a proxy for close relatives and two unrelated people. [76]

In May 2003, 35 local authorities trialled all-postal voting. The outcome of those pilots was a recommendation from the UK Electoral Commission that all-postal voting should be adopted as the normal method of voting at local elections in the UK. This reflected the positive impact on voter turnout at these elections (in some places, turnout doubled) and the fact that there was no evidence of an increase in electoral fraud. [77]

A 2016 government review said about postal voting, that "Evidence was presented of pressure being put on vulnerable members of some ethnic minority communities, particularly women and young people, to vote according to the will of the elders... the possibilities of undue influence, theft of postal votes and tampering with them after completion were all still risks." [78]

United States

Voters may vote early or get a mailed ballot to mail back or take to a secure box or office. [79] Most areas do not require a reason. [80] Five states and some counties have all-postal elections. [80] [81] Vote-by-mail has been implemented in both Republican and Democratic states, [82] but it became a political controversy in 2020. Availability of postal voting increases turnout. [83] [82] [84]

Americans living outside the United States and members of the military and merchant marine even inside the country, and their families, may register and vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Almost half the states require these ballots to be returned by mail. Other states allow mail along with some combination of fax, or email; four states allow a web portal. [85]

Security of mailed ballots is controlled by using special paper in some areas, [2] and, more often, by requiring signatures of voters and sometimes witnesses. Signature comparisons are imperfect; the best academic researchers have 10-14% error rates. [3] Thousands of ballots fail the signature checks and are rejected. [4] Evidence of fraud is uncommon, though postal voting has a greater risk of fraud than in-person voting. [5] Not all states have standards for signature review. [86] There have been concerns that signatures are improperly rejected from young and minority voters at higher rates than others, with no or limited ability of voters to appeal the rejection. [87] [88] Processing large numbers of ballots and signature verifications accurately has numerous challenges other than fraud. [89] [87] [90]

In the 2016 US Presidential election, approximately 33 million ballots were cast via mailed out ballots (about a quarter of all ballots cast). [91]

The number of people who voted early or with mail-in ballots set records in the 2020 election. This is because of the coronavirus pandemic and people choosing the option of absentee ballots. [92]

See also

Related Research Articles

Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots.

Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. It differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What exactly constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country, though the goal is often election subversion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Help America Vote Act</span>

The Help America Vote Act of 2002, or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92–2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. The bill was drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential election, when almost two million ballots were disqualified because they registered multiple votes or no votes when run through vote-counting machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secret ballot</span> Anonymous voting method

The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.

Vote counting is the process of counting votes in an election. It can be done manually or by machines. In the United States, the compilation of election returns and validation of the outcome that forms the basis of the official results is called canvassing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United States</span> Political elections for public offices in the United States

In the politics of the United States, elections are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in France</span> Overview of the procedure of elections in France

France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with a bicameral legislature. Public officials in the legislative and executive branches are either elected by the citizens or appointed by elected officials. Referendums may also be called to consult the French citizenry directly on a particular question, especially one which concerns amendment to the Constitution.

In electoral systems, voter registration is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provisional ballot</span> Ballot cast requiring further verification of voters eligibility

In elections in the United States, a provisional ballot is used to record a vote when there are questions about a given voter's eligibility that must be resolved before the vote can count. The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 guarantees that, in most states, the voter can cast a provisional ballot if the voter states that they are entitled to vote.

Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as via postal voting, or in person, usually in designated early voting polling stations. The availability and time periods for early voting vary among jurisdictions and types of election. The goals of early voting are usually to increase voter participation, relieve congestion at polling stations on election day, and avoid possible discrimination against people with work and travel schedules that may effectively prohibit them from getting to the polls during the hours provided in a single election day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal voting</span> Voting, election, ballot papers, distributed to electors or returned by post, mail

Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.

India has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the central government and the states. India is the largest democracy in the world.

Voting in Switzerland is the process by which Swiss citizens make decisions about governance and elect officials. The history of voting rights in Switzerland mirrors the complexity of the nation itself. The polling stations are opened on Saturdays and Sunday mornings but most people vote by post in advance. At noon on Sunday, voting ends and the results are usually known during the afternoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act</span>

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), P.L. 99-410, 52 U.S.C. §§ 20301–20311, 39 U.S.C. § 3406, 18 U.S.C. §§ 608–609, is a United States federal law dealing with elections and voting rights for United States citizens residing overseas. The act requires that all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands allow certain U.S. citizens to register to vote and to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections. The act is Public Law 99-410 and was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on August 28, 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of the procedure of elections in the United Kingdom

There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voter identification laws</span> Laws requiring proof of identity to vote

A voter identification law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification in order to vote. In some jurisdictions requiring photo IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must have their identity verified by someone else or sign a Challenged Voter Affidavit in order to receive a ballot to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right of expatriates to vote in their country of origin</span>

The right of expatriates to vote in elections in their country of origin varies depending on the legislation of an expatriate's country of origin. Some countries grant their expatriate citizens unlimited voting rights, identical to those of citizens living in their home country. Other countries allow expatriate citizens to vote only for a certain number of years after leaving the country, after which they are no longer eligible to vote. Other countries reserve the right vote solely to citizens living in that country, thereby stripping expatriate citizens of their voting rights once they leave their home country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal voting in the United States</span> Overview of topic

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, in which 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.

Absentee voting in the United Kingdom is allowed by proxy or post for any elector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal voting in the 2020 United States elections</span> Overview of postal voting in the 2020 United States elections

Postal voting played an important role in the 2020 United States elections, with many voters reluctant to vote in person during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The election was won by Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate. The Republican candidate President Donald Trump made numerous false claims of widespread fraud arising from postal voting, despite nearly-universal agreement to the contrary, with overwhelming amounts of supporting evidence, by the mainstream media, fact-checkers, election officials, and the courts.

References

  1. ↑ "State Laws Governing Early Voting". www.ncsl.org. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  2. 1 2 3 "'We've got to get going.' States under pressure to plan for the general election amid a pandemic". PBS NewsHour . 2020-05-04. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  3. 1 2 3 These systems handle scanned ("offline") signatures from multiple people ("WI, writer-independent"). Hafemann, Luiz G., Robert Sabourin and Luiz S. Oliveira (2017-10-16). "Offline handwritten signature verification — Literature review". 2017 Seventh International Conference on Image Processing Theory, Tools and Applications (IPTA). pp. 1–8. arXiv: 1507.07909 . doi:10.1109/IPTA.2017.8310112. ISBN   978-1-5386-1842-4. S2CID   206932295.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 "Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) 2018 Comprehensive report" (PDF). US Election Assistance Commission. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  5. 1 2 Young, Ashley (2016-09-23). "A Complete Guide To Early And Absentee Voting". National Public Radio (USA). Retrieved 2020-06-15. However, there is a bigger risk of voter fraud when it comes to absentee and mail-in ballots, McDonald pointed out.
  6. ↑ "Verification of Absentee Ballots". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  7. ↑ Farley, Robert (2020-06-25). "Trump's Shaky Warning About Counterfeit Mail-In Ballots" . Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  8. 1 2 Appel, Andrew (2020-06-08). "Democracy Live internet voting: unsurprisingly insecure, and surprisingly insecure". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  9. ↑ "Internet Voting". Verified Voting. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  10. ↑ "Secure Internet voting will likely not be feasible in the near future... At the present time, the Internet (or any network connected to the Internet) should not be used for the return of marked ballots" National Academies of Sciences (2018-09-06). Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy. doi:10.17226/25120. ISBN   978-0-309-47647-8. S2CID   158434942 . Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  11. ↑ "Electronic ballot return faces significant security risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of voted ballots. These risks can ultimately affect the tabulation and results and, can occur at scale... Even with ... technical security considerations, electronic ballot return remains a high-risk activity." "RISK MANAGEMENT FOR ELECTRONIC BALLOT DELIVERY, MARKING, AND RETURN" (PDF). Election Assistance Commission, National Institute of Standards and Technology, FBI, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  12. ↑ Halderman, J. Alex, and Vanessa Teague (2015-08-13). "The New South Wales iVote System: Security Failures and Verification Flaws in a Live Online Election". E-Voting and Identity. International Conference on E-Voting and Identity. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 9269. pp. 35–53. arXiv: 1504.05646 . doi:10.1007/978-3-319-22270-7_3. ISBN   978-3-319-22269-1.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Springall, Drew; Finkenauer, Travis; Durumeric, Zakir; Kitcat, Jason; Hursti, Harri; MacAlpine, Margaret; Halderman, Alex (2014), "Security Analysis of the Estonian Internet Voting System", Proceedings of the 2014 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (PDF), pp. 703–715, doi:10.1145/2660267.2660315, ISBN   9781450329576, S2CID   1985090 , retrieved 3 December 2017
  14. ↑ "The OSCE/ODIHR EAM was made aware of a program that could, if it was running on a voter's computer, change the vote without the possibility for the voter to detect it. The case was brought to the attention of the project manager who assessed this threat to be theoretically plausible but nearly impossible to implement in reality." "ESTONIA PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS OSCE/ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Report" (PDF). OSCE. 6 March 2011. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  15. 1 2 Zetter, Kim (2019-03-12). "Researchers Find Critical Backdoor in Swiss Online Voting System". Vice. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  16. ↑ Gupta, Manhar. "Russia's Blockchain Voting Turned Into A Fiasco". Cryptotrends.
  17. ↑ Gaudry, Pierrick, and Alexander Golovnev (2020-02-10). Breaking the Encryption Scheme of the Moscow Internet Voting System (PDF). Financial Cryptography 2020 – via International Financial Cryptography Association.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Anderson, Ross (2020-02-21). "Electronic voting systems". The RISKS Digest. 31 (59) – via Newcastle University.
  19. ↑ Zetter, Kim (2020-02-13). "'Sloppy' Mobile Voting App Used in Four States Has 'Elementary' Security Flaws". VICE. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  20. ↑ Weil, Gordon (2020-07-04). "Maine system combined with shareholder-style voting could overcome false fraud fears, boost turnout". Penobscot Bay Pilot. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  21. ↑ Fisch, Jill (2017). "Standing Voting Instructions: Empowering the Excluded Retail Investor". Minnesota Law Review. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  22. ↑ Election Services Co. "Terms of Use & Privacy Policy". www.electionservicesco.com. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  23. ↑ ProxyVote "Terms of Use & Linking Policy". www.broadridge.com. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  24. ↑ Proxydirect "Online Service Terms & Conditions". www.computershare.com. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  25. ↑ Brav, Alon, Matthew D. Cain, Jonathon Zytnick (November 2019). "Retail Shareholder Participation in the Proxy Process: Monitoring, Engagement, and Voting" (PDF). European Corporate Governance Institute. Retrieved 2020-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ "Proxy Services for Mutual Funds and ETF Providers". www.broadridge.com. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  27. ↑ Australian Electoral Commission. "Voting within Australia – Frequently Asked Questions". AEC. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  28. 1 2 Muller, Damon (2016). "The 2016 federal election". Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  29. 1 2 Aitkin, Don; Morgan, Kim (1971). "Postal and Absent Voting: A Democratic Dilemma". The Australian Quarterly . 43 (3): 53–70. doi:10.2307/20634455. JSTOR   20634455.
  30. ↑ Sawer, Marian; Norman Abjorensen; Philip Larkin (2009). Australia: The State of Democracy. Federation Press. pp. 107–114. ISBN   978-1862877252 . Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  31. ↑ Schedule 2—Grounds of application for postal or pre‑poll vote: "Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918". Federal Register of Legislation. 27 May 2020.
  32. ↑ "How to vote by mail: easy to read guide" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  33. ↑ "Nationalratswahl 2017". www.bmi.gv.at. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  34. ↑ Maas, Willem (2015). Access to Electoral Rights Canada. San Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy: EUDO Citizenship Observatory Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. p. 7.
  35. ↑ Canada, Elections (27 August 2018). "Report on the 42nd General Election of October 19, 2015". www.elections.ca. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  36. ↑ Canada, Elections (18 February 2020). "Report on the 43rd General Election of October 21, 2019". www.elections.ca. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  37. ↑ "Voting results in detail". rk2019.valimised.ee. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  38. ↑ Brad Plumer, Estonia gets to vote online. Why can't America?, Washington Post (November 6, 2012).
  39. ↑ "Postal voting". Vaalit. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  40. ↑ "Vote par procuration". service-public.fr "le site officiel de l'administration française" (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  41. ↑ Patino, Marie (13 March 2020). "What It's Like to Hold an Election in the Middle of a Pandemic". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  42. ↑ France drops electronic voting for citizens abroad over cybersecurity fears, Reuters (March 6, 2017).
  43. ↑ "Wahlrecht – News – Briefwahl nun ohne Hinderungsgrund möglich". www.wahlrecht.de (in German).
  44. ↑ "Home country elections - Hungary". europa.eu. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  45. ↑ "Kékcédulás levélszavazás". Átlátszó (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  46. ↑ "Országos listák". Nemzeti Választási Iroda (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  47. ↑ "Levélszavazás jegyzőkönyve". Nemzeti Választási Iroda (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  48. ↑ "Representation of the People Act-1950" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2009.
  49. ↑ "Who can vote by postal ballot?". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  50. ↑ "Election Commission to ensure postal votes don't get invalid". dna. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  51. ↑ "Pranab to become first president to cast vote via postal ballot". www.oneindia.com. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  52. ↑ "Postal ballots: Who can vote through ETPB, how to get registered and how the voting is done; an explainer". First Post. 2 April 2019.
  53. ↑ Maharashtra, Haryana Elections 2019: Can You Vote By Postal Ballot If You Aren't Living At Home?, Huffington Post, 26 September 2019.
  54. ↑ "People over 80 years of age, disabled can now vote through postal ballot". Jagran. 29 October 2019.
  55. ↑ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  56. ↑ "Latest changes on postal ballots to favour ruling party: Sitaram Yechury to EC". Deccan Herald. 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  57. ↑ "Postal ballots for voters over 64 gives ruling party an edge: Yechury". The Hindu. 2020-06-29. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  58. ↑ PTI (24 November 2010). "Govt. issues notification for NRI voting rights". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  59. ↑ Petition for Absentee Voting in Indian Elections Archived April 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  60. ↑ "THE CITY OF BRIDGES". 8 December 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  61. ↑ "Welcome nrivotingrights.info - Hostmonster.com". Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  62. ↑ developer, mediaindonesia com (2017-06-03). "Luar Negeri Tetap Dapil DKI 2, Jaksel Masuk Dapil DKI 1". mediaindonesia.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  63. ↑ "Malaysian oppn accuse govt of postal vote fraud". ABC News. March 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  64. ↑ "One foot in the door". The Sun (Malaysia). March 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  65. ↑ "Homepage Parlement & Politiek" . Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  66. ↑ Josh Lowe, Netherlands Abandons Electronic Vote Counting Amid Hacking Fears, Newsweek (March 6, 2017).
  67. ↑ "REPUBLIC ACT No. 7166 - AN ACT PROVIDING FOR SYNCHRONIZED NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS AND FOR ELECTORAL REFORMS, AUTHORIZING APPROPRIATIONS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES". Commission on Elections. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
  68. ↑ "GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SPECIAL BOARD OF ELECTION INSPECTORS AND SPECIAL BALLOT RECEPTION AND CUSTODY GROUP ON THE VOTING, COUNTING, AND TRANSMISSION OF RESULTS FOR OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING IN HONGKONG AND SINGAPORE IN CONNECTION WITH THE 10 MAY 2010 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS". Commission on Elections. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
  69. ↑ Federal Statute on Political Rights , SR/RS 161.1 (E·D·F·I), art. 8 (E·D·F·I)
  70. ↑ Killer, Christian; Stiller, Burkhard (2019). The Swiss Postal Voting Process and its System and Security Analysis. Communication Systems Group CSG, Department of Informatics IfI, Universitat Zurich UZH.
  71. ↑ Electronic voting, Swiss Confederation.
  72. ↑ "การเลือกตั้งนอกเขตจังหวัด [The procedure of absentee ballot voting]". Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  73. ↑ "วิธีการเลือกตั้งนอกราชอาณาจักร [The procedure of absentee ballot voting in foreign countries)". Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  74. ↑ White, Isobel (19 January 2010). "Postal Voting & Electoral Fraud" (PDF). Parliament and Constitution Centre, House of Commons Library. SN/PC/3667. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  75. ↑ "How to vote". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  76. ↑ "Application to vote by proxy at a particular election or referendum" (PDF). Cabinet Office, UK Government. 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  77. ↑ James, Toby S. (1 March 2011). "Fewer Costs, More Votes? United Kingdom Innovations in Election Administration 2000–2007 and the Effect on Voter Turnout". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 10 (1): 37–52. doi:10.1089/elj.2009.0059.
  78. ↑ Pickles, Eric (2016-08-11). "Securing the ballot, Report of Sir Eric Pickles' review into electoral fraud" (PDF). United Kingdom Government. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  79. ↑ Michelle Ye Hee Lee (August 18, 2020), "What's the difference between absentee and mail-in voting?", Washingtonpost.com, The two terms are often used interchangeably
  80. 1 2 "Voting Outside the Polling Place: Absentee, All-Mail and other Voting at Home Options". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  81. ↑ "VOPP: Table 18: States With All-Mail Elections". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  82. 1 2 Wines, Michael (2020-05-25). "Which Party Would Benefit Most From Voting by Mail? It's Complicated". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  83. ↑ Hill, Charlotte; Grumbach, Jacob; Bonica, Adam; Jefferson, Hakeem (2020). "We Should Never Have to Vote in Person Again". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  84. ↑ Thompson, Daniel M.; Wu, Jennifer A.; Yoder, Jesse; Hall, Andrew B. (2020-06-09). "Universal vote-by-mail has no impact on partisan turnout or vote share". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (25): 14052–14056. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11714052T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007249117 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   7322007 . PMID   32518108.
  85. ↑ "Electronic Transmission of Ballots". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  86. ↑ "Vote at Home Policy Actions: 1 and 2 Stars" (PDF). National Vote at Home Institute. May 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-06-06. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  87. 1 2 Smith, Daniel (2018-09-18). "Vote-By-Mail Ballots Cast in Florida" (PDF). ACLU-Florida. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  88. ↑ Wilkie, Jordan (2018-10-12). "Exclusive: High Rate of Absentee Ballot Rejection Reeks of Voter Suppression". Who What Why. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  89. ↑ "Signature Verification and Mail Ballots: Guaranteeing Access While Preserving Integrity" (PDF). Stanford University. 2020-04-15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  90. ↑ Corasaniti, Nick; Saul, Stephanie (2020-04-09). "Inside Wisconsin's Election Mess: Thousands of Missing or Nullified Ballots". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  91. ↑ Corse, Alexa; McMillan, Robert (23 May 2020). "Voting by Mail in November? States Need to Prepare Now". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  92. ↑ Gamio, Lazaro; Keefe, John; Lu, Denise (2020-09-22). "Tracking Absentee Votes in the 2020 Election". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-09-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.