Voting By Mail Has Gotten More Common In The U.S.

The debate about voting by mail is still raging in the United States with President Trump claiming it leaves the 2020 election wide open to fraud while many observers have insisted it remains the only way for people to safely cast their votes in November. Even though many states are now scrambling to expand access to voting by mail, relatively few Americans have done it. That being said, the share of people who cast their vote via post has been increasing over the course of recent election cycles.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the share of voters who cast their ballots via mail stood at 7.8 percent in the 1996 election and that increased threefold by 2016. During the most recent presidential election, the share voting by mail had climbed to 20.9 percent. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in April found that 70 percent of U.S. adults support allowing any voter to cast their ballot by mail if they so desire.