• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Newsletter>
  3. newsletter>

Whaddya know? More people participate in vote-by-mail states.

The Fulcrum
July 07, 2022



Good morning

Vote-by-mail states outperform others in primary turnout this year

Primary turnout isn’t really a point of pride for state officials, especially in a midterm year without presidential candidates on the ballot. But when examined in a vacuum, there is some positive news worth noting this year – at least in states that run mail-in elections.

The National Vote at Home Institute, which advocates for voting by mail, crunched the data on the primaries completed through June and found, perhaps not surprisingly, that the vote-by-mail states outperformed everyone else.

Six of the seven vote-by-mail states that have conducted primaries so far rank among the top dozen in terms of turnout. The No. 1 spot belongs to Montana, which does not mandate that all registered voters receive a ballot by mail but allows counties to send them if they wish.

NVAHI broke out the states into four categories: vote by mail, primarily vote by mail (Montana), no-excuse absentee voting and excuse-required absentee voting. Six of the bottom seven in terms of turnout were (again, perhaps not surprisingly) states that require voters to provide an excuse in order to vote by mail. New Jersey, an “excuse not required” state, has the second lowest participation rate so far, ahead of just neighboring New York.

Read more.

Finding sacred purpose in repair

Debilyn Molineaux, co-publisher of The Fulcrum, wrote this week about the intersection of art, democracy and repairing the world. She found the common theme of restoration in the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery is not just repaired but transformed into a new piece of art, as well as Suzanne Firstenberg’s art installations honoring those who died from Covid-19.

We hold people accountable for their actions. We should also hold ourselves accountable for the harm we’ve caused others. And then we lovingly seek to make the situation whole again. Not the same as it was, but whole with the new conditions of the current reality. We will never be what we were, but we can become whole again. And find the beauty in the process of repair.

Read more.

Ask Joe

Joe Weston, The Fulcrum’s resident advice columnist and the person behind Fierce Civility, wants to help you navigate difficult conversations in our polarized world. If you’ve got a question for Joe, email him at AskJoe@Fulcrum.us. His column is published every other Friday (including tomorrow).

Podcast: Gerrymandering (not as fun as it is to say)

"Why and Why Not" host Brad Fallon welcomed Stephen Medvic, author of “Gerrymandering: The Politics of Redistricting in the United States” for an in-depth discussion of gerrymandering.

Both parties love to criticize the practice of partisan mapmaking when done by the other side, and yet maps are becoming more gerrymandered than ever. Brad and Stephen address how we got to this point and what can be done about it.

Listen.

Also in the news

Mass. high court hears GOP case challenging mail-in voting (WBUR)

Why Abortion Is A Civil Rights Issue for Black Voters (FiveThirtyEight)

Poll workers are short-staffed, under attack — and quietly defending democracy (PolitiFact)

Charted: Split-ticket districts are disappearing (Axios)

Upcoming events

Media: How Do We Recognize Bias? - Crossing Party Lines - July 10

We the People’s Forum: Is It Time For A Third Party? - Braver Angels - July 11

How to Host and Organize Living Room Conversations - Living Room Conversations - July 11

Unpacking Court Reform: How to Ensure a Strong Judiciary - R Street - July 11

From Your Site Articles
  • New Jersey enacts law to facilitate mail voting - The Fulcrum ›
newsletter

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Katie Fahey

America needs a Declaration of Independents

Lawrence Goldstone

Activism needs transparency, too

Alina Clough

Courage is the measure

Debilyn Molineaux

Organizing for collective impact: Transforming American democracy together

Caleb Christen

Three ways to change voting (or nonvoting) behavior

Jess Riegel
latest News

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
2h

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
05 August

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Both parties are failing to put country over party – in totally different ways

Ross Sherman
04 August

Both parties are failing to put country over party – in totally different ways

Ross Sherman
04 August

Podcast: Making government work

Our Staff
04 August
Videos

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Our Staff

Video: The All-America City Award experience

Our Staff

Video: There's a new political party forming. See who's behind it

Our Staff

Video: The US economy

Our Staff

Video: History of Independence Day: USA's First Fourth of July

Our Staff

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
2h

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Podcast: Making government work

Our Staff
04 August

Podcast: When the people decide

Our Staff
03 August
Recommended
Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcasts
​Kaitlin LaCasse collects petition signatures in Raymond, Maine.

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Campaign Finance
Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Elections
Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Jan. 6 committee

America needs a Declaration of Independents

Threats to democracy
Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Podcasts