A Majority Of Americans Want To Make It Easier To Vote By Mail

A voter drops off her mail in ballot at a dropbox at the Salt Lake County election office in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 29, 2020. GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images A significant majority of Americans want lawmakers to keep and build on the expanded voting options many states adopted during the 2020 elections as they tried to make casting ballots safer amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll released Monday found. The poll, conducted by the independent firm Strategies 360 and Voting Rights Lab, found that 74% of Americans believe voters should have the ability to cast absentee ballots by mail in future elections ― an idea that enjoys support from 62% of Republicans and even stronger majorities of independent and Democratic voters. The expansion of early voting periods and vote-by-mail options during the pandemic boosted turnout during primary elections and for November’s presidential contest, especially in states that adopted those measures for the first time, as voters submitted absentee ballots or cast votes before Election Day at record rates. Since then, Republican lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures, many of whom initially favored the changes made last year, have continued former President Donald Trump’s crusade against expanded voting rights, wielding baseless conspiracies about rampant fraud to try to curtail voting rights and limit absentee voting in numerous states.