An opinion piece written by Professor Jake Grumbach and co-authors Charlotte Hill, Adam Bonica and Hakeem Jefferson was published in The New York Times today. The article examines new findings from their recent paper, analyzing the effect of vote-by-mail in Colorado, which switched to all-mail voting in 2013. They find that all-mail voting had a large effect on voter turnout, particularly among groups that have been historically disenfranchised and among young voters: “The explanation is simple: Mail voting makes participating in elections a lot easier. This is particularly helpful for young people, who disproportionately cite time constraints as their reason for not voting.” Notably, they also find that the effect of increased voter turnout would benefit Democrats and Republicans equally, despite Republican opposition to mail-in voting and claims of voter fraud. The authors note that such fraud is exceptionally rare and largely unsubstantiated by evidence. Thus, “At this point, the burden of argument regarding the merit of mail voting should be on its opponents, not its proponents. Our research suggests policymakers looking to to maximize democratic participation can expand mail voting ahead of this challenging November election — and also put it on the books for years to come.”
The full article can be viewed here.
