A new mail-voting exhibition is a reminder that its use dates back to the Civil War

A new mail-voting exhibition is a reminder that its use dates back to the Civil War toggle caption Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR Four years ago, millions more voters in the U.S. became familiar with voting by mail. We would love to see some of that saved.” Even with its limited look at voting by mail through the years, Villar adds she hopes visitors who are eligible to cast a ballot will leave “inspired to vote however they choose to do it and to know more that voting by mail has a long history of successfully being carried out.” Here are some highlights from the exhibition “Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19”: An envelope used during the 1864 election to mail a sheet tallying the votes of Civil War soldiers from Ohio’s Highland County at a Union Army field hospital in Georgia toggle caption Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR “Different states had different approaches, but they wanted to give a way for soldiers who are away, out of state at war to have a chance to vote in the election,” Villar says. And when you think about it, these men and women are out there risking their lives for our country and disenfranchising them by not being able to vote in an election doesn't make a lot of sense.” A photo of Japanese American citizens waiting for their absentee ballots to be notarized in 1942 while they were wrongfully incarcerated at the Tule Lake prison camp in California during World War II toggle caption Francis Leroy Stewart/National Archives “It's a really powerful story and one that really makes you think about what it means to be American and that right to vote that we may sometimes take for granted,” Villar explains. Postal Service sent in 2020 to help voters prepare to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic toggle caption Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR “The messaging around voting by mail is so challenging,” Villar says.