- Published on March 5, the article examines how the absent vote affected the 2020 election in the U.S.
- He concludes that Democrats were also less likely to vote in person or on election day.
- The study adds that there were already high levels of motivation to participate and ballots sent by post did not lead to an increase in votes.
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The ballots in the mail did not help Democrats nor did they lead to an increase in votes during the election, according to a new study by Stanford University.
Published on March 5, the article examines how the absentee vote affected the 2020 election in the United States, studying participation rates in Texas, a state that decided not to facilitate its voting process by mail, although many others chose to do so. do it because of the pandemic.
While Texan voters aged 65 and over could automatically vote by mail, younger people had to provide a legally justified reason for doing so, such as having a disability, the Associated Press reported.
Both age groups had identical voting rates, with just 0.2% more Democrats in the older group, showing that ballots by mail did not actually increase Democrats’ participation in the vote, added the AP.
Although Democrats are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans in 2020, it didn’t really help them win the election because they were equally less likely to vote in person or on election day, the study concluded.
It also revealed that there was a slightly higher turnout among 65-year-olds compared to 64-year-olds in 2014 and 2018, suggesting that absentee voting increases participation in lower-interest elections.
The study concludes that making it easier to vote by mail ballot did not raise voting levels because there were already high levels of motivation to participate in the 2020 election.
Jesse Yoder, one of the eight authors of the article and a doctoral student in political science at Stanford University, told the AP: “We found virtually no effect on attendance. Voter interest was actually driving attendance more than these forms of voting of convenience. “
Republicans claim baselessly that the expansion of postal votes was the main reason why Donald Trump lost the election and legally challenged several states in his decision to do so.
In Georgia, for example, there are proposals for absentee voters to require identification and a reason, The Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, some Democrats in Congress are also calling for a nationwide change that would require all states to offer voting by “no excuse” mail to everyone, added the Guardian.