Mail-in voting

‘It gave us information that we couldn’t have received any other way’: Local officials worry about Election Day problems, especially for voters who have recently moved.

Currently, eight states across the United States and Washington, D.C. operate elections almost entirely by mail.

Years after the federal government got involved to improve ballot access for active members of the military, expanded online voting that is not available to the general public is reducing problems for troops wanting to vote.

In the past, residents needed to submit an application for a mail-in ballot for each individual election, but now they avoid that by filing an application for permanent vote-by-mail status with their local election authority.

Illinois lawmakers passed an omnibus elections bill Monday that would push back the date of the 2022 primary elections among other major changes to the state’s election code.

Democratic state lawmakers are pushing to make permanent many of the voting options Illinois piloted for the 2020 General Election last fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether they'll be able to hinges greatly on where they live and what changes, if any, local lawmakers are willing to make.

Earlier this month, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Missouri’s law requiring absentee and mail-in ballots to be notarized.

It’s a small slice of the almost 5,000 absentee or mail-in ballots rejected, but advocates say even one uncounted vote is too many. Under this year's new mail-in voting option, voters have to have their ballot envelope notarized.

As Election Day nears, advocates say they'll be on the watch for voter intimidation and other issues that may affect voters of color. We have a breakdown of the issues here, as well as resources voters can use.