More states follow Washington's lead in voting by mail

More states are joining Washington in adopting automatic, universal mail-in voting — the kind that doesn't require you to think about requesting a ballot.

The big picture: Washington has been a leader in voting-by-mail for more than a decade, with state election officials often acting as ambassadors for mail-in voting around the country.

• Now, those efforts are showing results, with twice as many states voting by mail this election as did four years ago.

Why it matters: Voting by mail, especially when a ballot arrives at your home automatically, is considered easier and more convenient than requiring people to show up at a polling place.

• A 2020 study by Stanford researchers found that universal mail-in voting increased overall turnout by about 2 percentage points, without giving one party an advantage over another.
• Youth turnout in particular has been higher since Washington adopted universal vote-by-mail in 2011, Crosscut reported.

State of play: Washington is now one of eight U.S. states that automatically mail ballots to registered voters, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

• Of those states, Washington is one of only four that conducted all-mail elections before 2020. The others, along with the District of Columbia, adopted the universal vote-by-mail more recently.

Of note: Only Oregon predated Washington in setting up universal mail-in voting.

Zoom out: Even if many states aren't making mail-in voting quite as easy as Washington, more than half now allow people to request a mail ballot for any reason, rather than requiring a specific excuse, per the National Conference of State Legislatures.

What we're watching: Whether more states will switch to universal vote-by-mail systems before the 2024 presidential election.

Go deeper: What to know about voting in Washington state's 2022 elections