Nearly 75 percent of U.S. voters will be able to vote by mail in the 2020 presidential election, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The highest percentage of Americans in U.S. history will automatically be eligible for mail-in votes without an apology, as several states have adapted their electoral systems amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Experts predict that turnout will increase, leading to about 80 million mail-in votes to polling stations, more than double the amount in 2016, according to the Times.
All states will allow some form of mail-in voting, but accessibility for voters will vary. Nine states and Washington, DC, plan to send a ballot to each registered voter before the election.
The analysis found that 33 states allow voters to cast an absent vote without reporting an apology or the pandemic as an excuse. From there, eight states will automatically send a request for a ballot to registered voters. In half of the states, voters will even have to get the request for an absent vote.
Voters will have to apologize for getting an absentee ballot in eight states: New York, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
A total of 24 states and DC made adjustments to facilitate post-in voting in the midst of a pandemic. Some counties in other states have also taken similar measures. Last-minute changes, including legislation and judicial decisions, could bring more changes in the coming weeks.
With about half of the states that have so far made no changes to these elections, election experts said voters in those states will benefit from existing options.
The Times analysis also revealed that out of the 31 states that saw increased turnouts in their primaries as caucuses compared to 2016, 18 sent or ballot applications to voters before the election. In states that demanded an apology for the absentee vote, turnout remained about the same as the last presidential presidency.
But voting for post-in during the primaries and caucuses also had its problems, with long lines, technical difficulties, a large volume of ballots and worries about missing and rejected votes, the Times noted.
President Trump
Donald John TrumpDemocrat calls on White House to take back ambassador to Belarus nominated TikTok to collect data from mobile devices to track Android users: Peterson report wins Minnesota House primarily in crucial swing district MORE has strongly opposed voting by mail, claiming without evidence that the practice opens the polls for fraud.
Election officials say the amount of votes and potential problems with the U.S. Postal Service in November will cause obstacles, leading to delays in announcing the winners in each state by days or even weeks, according to the Times.
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