Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Which states allow no-excuse absentee voting?

absentee ballots

Election workers in Detroit process absentee ballots during the 2020 election.

Elaine Cromie/Getty Images

Rhode Island is on the verge of allowing any voter to use an absentee ballot without providing a specific reason. If Gov. Daniel McKee signs the bill, just 16 states will require would-be absentee voters to provide an excuse.

Currently, 25 states and the District of Columbia allow no-excuse absentee balloting, and an additional six have all-mail voting.

Proponents of universal absentee voting say such systems make it easier for more people to vote, particularly minorities, those who live in rural areas and people with disabilities. Advocates also claim that safeguards built into the system ensure mail voting is as secure as in-person balloting.


Opponents of no-excuse mail balloting believe it increases the risk of voter fraud and is an unreliable method of voting because ballots can become lost and the system introduces the possibility of errors such as mismatched signatures.

In states that require excuses, common options include illness, absence from the voting jurisdiction, disability and being a caregiver.

Amidst a raging pandemic, voting by mail surged in 2020 with a number of states loosening the rules, at least temporarily. That year, 46 percent of voters cast their ballot by mail; never before had even a quarter of voters used that method.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

states that allow no-excuse absentee ballots

Even as mail voting has expanded, voters in New York strongly rejected a ballot proposal last year that would have instituted a no-excuse system. The result was unexpected as liberal-leaning states have embraced the concept more than conservative states.

Other states in the Northeast have debated similar proposals since the 2020 election.

Connecticut lawmakers have considered allowing a people to vote on a constitutional amendment that would permit no-excuse absentee ballots but have not been able to muster enough votes to advance the proposal.

In March 2021, Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature defeated a bill that would have established people to vote by mail with not excuse.

Read More

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

An illustration of hands putting together a puzzle.

Getty Images, cienpies

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

The concept of the common good in American society has undergone a remarkable transformation since the nation's founding. What began as a clear, if contested, vision of collective welfare has splintered into something far more complex and individualistic. This shift reflects changing times and a fundamental reimagining of what we owe each other as citizens and human beings.

The nation’s progenitors wrestled with this very question. They drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the social contract as a sacred covenant between citizens and their government. But they also pulled from deeper wells—the Puritan concept of the covenant community, the classical Republican tradition of civic virtue, and the Christian ideal of serving one's neighbor. These threads wove into something uniquely American: a vision of the common good that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility.

Keep ReadingShow less
We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

Students in a classroom.

Getty Images, Maskot

We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

“If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men.” - W.E.B. Du Bois

The current state of public education has many confused, anxious, and even fearful. Depending on the day, I feel any combination of the above, among other less-than-ideal adjectives. Simply, the future is uncertain. Schools are simultaneously cutting budgets and trying to remain relevant, all during an increasingly tense political climate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

An oversized gavel surrounded by people.

Getty Images, J Studios

Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

In a recent post we quoted a journalist describing the Republican Party as anti-immigration. Many of our readers wrote back angrily to say that the Republican party is only opposed to immigrants who are present illegally.

But that's not true. And we're not shy of telling it like it is.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Importance of Respecting Court Orders
brown wooden chess piece on brown book

The Importance of Respecting Court Orders

The most important question in American politics today is whether Donald Trump will respect court orders. Judges have repeatedly ruled against his administration.

But will he listen?

Keep ReadingShow less