ELECTION 2020
Which way of casting a ballot this year is best for you?
News and research in the leadup to the 2020 election.
Election workers process absentee ballots for the primary elections in Portland, Maine / David Sharp / AP
Research and Perspectives for the Pandemic
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RESOURCES
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
Because of the pandemic, many voting rules have changed this year. Here is an excellent interactive guide to each way of voting, in each State. The guide also gives info on how to Register in each State and contact info for your State's Election Office.
Via the New York Times: Interactive Guide for your State
MIT Vote
A non-partisan student organization at MIT working to increase voter turnout and student engagement for the 2020 general elections.
Visit MIT Vote
MIT Election Data and Science Lab
The non-partisan lab supports advances in election science and works to help make all forms of voting in the U.S. safe, secure, trustworthy, and effective.
Website | @MITElectionLab | Research on Voting by Mail and Absentee Voting
Up-to-date information from the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project
A compendium of election research, tools, and recommendations. To ensure confidence in the 2020 elections, Healthy Elections encourages the nation's media to educate the U.S. public about the near-certain delay in getting a full, accurate count of votes in November due to increased mail-in ballots. Website | @HealthElex
FOUR WAYS TO CAST YOUR VOTE | WHICH IS BEST FOR YOU?
Early In-Person Voting — before November 3
Mail-In or Absentee Ballot — as early as possible
Deliver a Mail-In or Absentee Ballot Yourself — as early as possible
In-Person Voting — on Election Day
EARLY IN-PERSON VOTING
"If I were advising someone at lower health risk, I would say think about early in-person voting," said Charles Stewart III, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Politiucal Science at MIT and Founding Director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab. "But go early in the process and don't wait until the last minute."
ABC NEWS
Early In-Person Voting is an option for those at a lower health risk
"There's another voting method that's proven effective at tallying counts while reducing lines on Election Day: early in-person voting. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have rules that allow their constituents to lock in their vote days before Election Day -- even on weekends -- either at in-person polling stations or through in-person absentee submissions."
Story at ABC News
About
"Early voting periods range in length from four days to 45 days before Election Day, with an average length of 19 days, according to the NCSL. Charles Stewart III, a professor of political science at MIT, told ABC News some early voting poll sites and drop-off centers provide voters with better site resources than others. Some sites, particularly ones located in election offices, have full-time employees who have better training and knowledge than volunteers, he said."
"Even if you see longer lines during in-person early voting, they won't be as long as if we forced people to wait in line on Election Day.... McDonald also said early in-person voting would alleviate concerns from voters who are worried their mail-in ballot won't be received by their election office on time or be disqualified due to a technicality.
This map will be updated as plans evolve in the States.
FIND VOTING INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
The New York Times
Information on forms of voting, deadlines, poll locations, more
League of Women Voters
State-by-State Guide to Voting in 2020
538
MAIL-IN AND ABSENTEE BALLOTS
Voting-by-mail should be safer for citizens at high-risk for the Covid virus than voting in-person on Election Day — and voting by mail has been an honest and successful way to vote in many U.S. States. Vote fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare, with mailed ballots and otherwise.
But voting by mail does generate more "lost" (uncounted) ballots than in-person voting, and this year there will be several additional issues with voting-by mail: processing the vastly increased number of mail-in ballots; late delivery of ballots due to recent changes in the US Postal Service; and a slowed count of the vote.
If you use a mail in or absentee ballot, consider delivering the ballot yourself — putting it in a secure Election Dropbox, or taking it to your local Election Office.
Here follows information about mail-in voting, as well as information about dropping off a ballot in dropbox, and voting in person on Election Day.
ABC NEWS
As popularity skyrockets, ballot drop boxes face unexpected obstacles | Healthy Elections Project
With nearly 35 states across the country using or planning to use drop boxes this year, "the use of ballot drop boxes during the 2020 general election will likely be larger than any election in American history," according to a report by the Stanford-MIT run Healthy Elections Project. At least 10 states have expanded drop box access in 2020, the report said, either by placing more physical boxes in communities or by opening satellite election offices where voters can drop their ballots.
Story at ABC News 10/16/2020
FAST COMPANY
How to make sure your mail-in ballot actually counts
A few general best practices will go a long way toward making sure your mail-in ballot gets counted, regardless of where you live. Those best practices address the most common reasons that mail-in ballots are rejected. In short, they are: Sign the ballot, sign it right, follow the instructions, and send it in on time. Story details each aspect of mail-in ballots.
Story at Fast Company 8/27/20
THE WASHINGTON POST
How likely is it that your mail-in ballot won't get counted? | Charles Stewart III
"The greatest risks of voting by mail are voters' own mistakes. To minimize this problem, election officials can warn voters that a mistake on their absentee ballot means it won't be counted — or they can design ballots and instructions using plain language.
Analysis at the Washington Post 8/25/2020
THE NEW YORK TIMES
How Could Voting by Mail Affect the Election? | Healthy Elections Project
An uptick in ballot rejections could increase the likelihood of lawsuits in an already litigious landscape. According to the Stanford-M.I.T. Healthy Elections Project, more than 40 states have active lawsuits regarding laws and policies around voting by mail, including in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio — states crucial to each candidate’s path to the White House.
Story at The New York Times
VOX
Oregon already votes by mail. Here's what it can teach us in 2020 | Charles Stewart III
Stewart, an elections expert at MIT, says he has “not drunk the Oregon Kool-Aid” on mail-in voting but does think the state offers a case study for where and when vote-by-mail can work. It has tended to catch on in Western states, where some people live great distances from county or city centers, so vote-by-mail makes even more sense.
Story at Vox
MIT ELECTION LAB
Research on Voting by Mail and Absentee Voting
Americans have traditionally voted in neighborhood polling places, but beginning in the 1980s, many states have eased rules on issuing absentee ballots, allowed voters to cast ballots in person before Election Day, or even begun mailing ballots to all voters.
Research on Voting by Mail and Absentee Voting
HEALTHY ELECTIONS PROJECT
Vote by Mail Guide for Election Officials
This guide is the most comprehensive aggregation of publicly available resources regarding vote by mail, designed primarily for election officials considering expansion of vote by mail and others seeking a deeper understanding of the current vote-by-mail landscape and expansion policies under consideration in many states. Visit the Guide
FIND VOTING INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
The New York Times
Information on forms of voting, deadlines, poll locations, more
League of Women Voters
State-by-State Guide to Voting in 2020
538
DELIVER A MAIL-IN OR ABSENTEE BALLOT YOURSELF
Deliver a ballot to your election office or a designated election dropbox — Currently at least 25 states allow voters who opt for mail or absentee voting to drop off their ballots at their election office, polling sites, or designated dropboxes. That number may grow over the coming weeks.
FIND VOTING INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
The New York Times
Information on forms of voting, deadlines, poll locations, more
League of Women Voters
State-by-State Guide to Voting in 2020
538
IN-PERSON VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
HEALTHY ELECTIONS PROJECT
Guide to Voting on Election Day
While many states have significantly ramped up their vote-by-mail capacity, some voters in state primaries and the general election this fall will vote in person. This page compiles resources for voters and officials to conduct those elections safely.
Visit the In Person Voting Guide
Become a Poll Worker
"Election administrators across the country rely on citizen poll workers to staff polling places and deliver other key services...Because more than half of all poll workers are over the age of 60 in most elections...we need new volunteers to have a successful and healthy election in November.
Healthy Elections: How to become a poll worker
Fair Elections Center: State-by-State info on how to work at the polls on Election Day
FIND VOTING INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
The New York Times
Information on forms of voting, deadlines, poll locations, more
League of Women Voters
State-by-State Guide to Voting in 2020
538
COUNTING THE VOTE
THE VOTE COUNT IN NOVEMBER 2020 WILL TAKE TIME
While media organizations may "call" an election on election night based on early tabulation of votes, the outcome of a Presidential election is never officially known on election night, but only when the Electoral College votes, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December, which this year is December 14.
PATIENCE
About the 2020 elections, Charles Stewart III, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science, and election expert says: "We will need to be patient, especially when it comes to finding out who won the November election. With the increase in mail voting and the likely shortage of personnel to count the ballots, vote counting will be delayed. Election officials need to plan for this, and create ways for the delayed vote-count still to be transparent. Still, it’s going to be delayed, and we need to be prepared for that."
ABC NEWS
Counting all ballots in November may take several weeks | Charles Stewart III
Stewart, director of the MIT Election Data & Science Lab, is concerned that the time needed to count all ballots properly, and the resulting confusion, could last for "a couple weeks, maybe longer."
Story at ABC News
538
Why we're planning for an election day that could last months
A public service project meant to help voters navigate the latest voting rules in their state.
Website
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Vote Counts Change. Please Don't Panic. | Charles Stewart III
"What concerns MIT election expert Charles Stewart isn't voting fraud [which is vanishingly rare in the U.S.], but rather how a changing vote total that tends to move in one direction can be misunderstood by an anxious public and exploited by politicians eager to preserve any advantage. 'It may start to look as if, when an election goes into extra innings, one of the two teams is given extra at-bats." Story at the New York Times
THE ATLANTIC
The 'Blue Shift' will decide the election | Charles Stewart III
The blue shift remains little studied and poorly understood. In a 2015 paper, Foley and the MIT political scientist Charles Stewart III found evidence that the blue shift was correlated with the number of provisional ballots cast. Story at The Atlantic
OTHER VOTING RESEARCH AND NEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
'Poor People's Campaign' eyes low-income voters in 13 states | MIT Election Lab
A coalition of activists, unions, and religious leaders inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last organizing effort said Tuesday new data suggest low-income voters in key states could swing some U.S. Senate races. Story at the Associated Press
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Should voters rank their preferences instead? | Jesse Clark, MIT PhD candidate
“Without some voter outreach and investing both time and money...you won't have a system that improves much on what we already have,” said Clark, a PhD candidate at MIT who has closely studied ranked-choice voting. Story at The Boston Globe
FIND VOTING INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE
State-by-State Interactive Guide to Ways of Casting Your Ballot
The New York Times
Information on forms of voting, deadlines, poll locations, more
League of Women Voters
State-by-State Guide to Voting in 2020
538
Suggested links
Six ways to protect the 2020 Elections
MIT Election Data and Science Lab
Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project
MIT Department of Political Science
League of Women Voters
538 | 2020 Election