Mail-in Ballots: National Change and Political Controversies

In the years following the turbulent 2020 election, characterized by election fraud allegations and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, absentee voting policies shifted across American states. This year, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Utah all passed measures in their state legislatures to reduce existing grace periods for voting by mail, or to eliminate them altogether, with the most recent change happening on May 23. Restricted voting access poses an issue to voters in special circumstances, especially college students—85% of Harvard undergraduates live out of state. 

Mail-in voting has become tied up in partisan politics, complicating voters’ access to absentee ballots. “Since COVID, the use of mail-in ballots has become polarized along party [lines],” Charles H. Stewart, MIT’s Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, explained in a statement to the Independent. “Although some of that polarization has abated, it’s still the case that Democrats are more likely to favor voting by mail than Republicans. That wasn’t true before COVID.”

These states join 22 others that have since tightened laws regarding absentee voting, voter identification, and ballot collection. Most changes occurred in GOP strongholds (Wyoming, Alabama), though some swing states (Arizona, North Carolina) and solidly Democratic states (New York, New Hampshire) also adopted more restrictive policies. 

“I think mail-in ballots have been a crucial expansion of access to voting for myriad communities across the country, from those that live far from traditional polling places…to those out of town around election time (including students, military members, and others),” Ruth Greenwood, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, wrote to the Harvard Independent.

“Mail-in ballots [are] probably one of the most difficult parts for voting for students at Harvard, just because a lot of students are not native to Cambridge,” Dominick Lombard ’27, co-chair of the Harvard Votes Challenge, said in an interview with the Independent. “Different states have a lot of different policies regarding mail-in ballots. Some require that the mail-in ballot just be postmarked by election day. Some require that they be received on election day.”

Though some state provisions to limit absentee voting have been blocked in state and federal courts, the general movement to reduce access to voting is part of a wider shift in the American conservative political movement.

Perhaps the most public backlash against this system came from President Donald Trump. In a post on Truth Social, he detailed his plans to end absentee ballot voting. 

“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.”

His initiative to eliminate vote-by-mail comes after claims of absentee ballot fraud in the 2020 election, during which many states temporarily relaxed mail-in ballot rules due to COVID-19. That year, Trump alleged the “Big Lie,” believing the election was stolen through forged signatures, foreign interference, illegal ballot printing, and tampered mailboxes.

“The battles against mail-in ballots are mainly driven by Trump. He uses this approach but got it in his head, mistakenly, that it hurts him and [the] GOP overall,” Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, wrote to the Independent. “[This is] not really true because a lot of older people who lean right use this approach. The push against this approach is just one of MANY kinds of right-wing efforts to restrict voting and undermine trust in results.”

The President signed an executive order on March 25 prohibiting states from having grace periods with absentee ballot systems, as is the practice in 16 states, plus Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C. However, the order has since been struck down in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts and faces widespread legal criticism for its unconstitutionality. 

“What is clear is that a presidential executive order cannot make sweeping changes to elections. That is consistent with the Constitution, and that interpretation was found recently by a federal court in response to suits seeking to enjoin President Trump’s Executive Order on Elections,” Greenwood continued.

Other experts point out the inaccuracies of the President’s statements on fraudulent voting via mail. “Mail-in ballots have been used in various states to expand access, especially for older people but also for everyone. They can be administered safely and there is nothing wrong with them at all. We have no evidence of systematic voter fraud on more than trivial scales using any voting method,” Skocpol explained.

Because of GOP allegations of voter fraud and partisan bias in absentee voting, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit in June with the Supreme Court. Watson v. Republican National Committee argued that Mississippi’s five-day ballot grace period was in violation of federal law. Lawyers for the Republicans suggested that Congress had the sole authority to decide when elections ended, and that it should establish a uniform election day.

This assertion raises other constitutional questions. “Article I, Section 4 (the Elections Clause) gives states sole authority over the ‘time, place, and manner’ of federal elections unless Congress intervenes, which it has done sparingly. The federal government has only the authority that Congress has indicated,” Stewart wrote.

These challenges from the RNC are not new; they launched several lawsuits to eliminate grace period laws before the 2024 elections in multiple states.

Now, in the midst of contentious political turnover and questions of election validity, USPS announced that it would consider redefining what a postmark date actually is: “The postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mailpiece.” These changes could cause issues for verifying mail-in ballots in states with newly reduced grace periods.

With a growing legal and operational threat to the future of mail-in ballots, Lombard reaffirmed their importance for voters on campus. 

“Being a college student, they’re extremely important to have, because there would be a lot of students who would be disenfranchised without mail-in ballots, just because either how expensive a flight is, just to go back for two days to vote… Mail-in ballots really allow for that flexibility.” 

For students seeking information about voting, specifically requesting an absentee ballot, HVC does the work to ensure the voting process is as smooth as possible. “We send emails to students based on their state. And there we give them different deadlines and registration links, including the voter registration, but also deadlines to request mail-in ballots, the deadline to have them postmarked or sent back in based on their state’s law,” he explained. “We really try to do our best to inform students about the different deadlines coming up, ways in which they can request mail-in ballots and submit them in time.”

The future of mail-in ballots remains uncertain. “Restrictions on mail-in voting can implicate a host of constitutional provisions as well as state and federal statutes. I imagine we will see these issues play out through litigation in the coming year,” Greenwood wrote. 

The Supreme Court has not set oral arguments for Watson v. Republican National Committee, but it is likely to hear the case soon and issue a ruling before June. 

Seyi Amosun ’29 (samosun@college.harvard.edu) can’t even remember the last time she sent something via mail.