Absentee voting by mail is not new. What’s new is the global pandemic. There was a trend toward mail-in ballots even before COVID-19, but the pandemic has accelerated the transition. Requests for absentee ballots had already surpassed 2016 levels in nearly every state by the end of September,i suggesting a record number of mail-in votes in the upcoming election. However, a surge of mail-in ballots is likely to exacerbate a complex counting process. Some states have already faced lawsuits over mail-in ballots, and there may be more to come.
