Improving the Vote-by-Mail Process

Vote-by-mail balloting is a popular option among California voters. In the November 2012 election, for the first time a majority of California voters cast vote-by-mail ballots in a statewide general election. Preliminary research indicates that the leading causes for VBM ballots being rejected are because they arrive too late to be counted, lack envelope signatures, or signatures can't be verified. The California Voter Foundation is working to improve California's vote-by-mail process through voter education, outreach, research and administrative improvements. Below are resources to help inform vote-by-mail reform effort, including CVF's 2014 report, Improving California's Vote-by-Mail Process: A Three-County Study.

CVF Publications and Resources:

• California Vote-by-Mail Tip Sheet (news release)

• Improving California's Vote-by-Mail Process: A Three-County Study published by CVF in August 2014, also available in PDF to download or print

• Letter to Governor Jerry Brown urging support for restoring funding to pay for vote by mail and other election programs, June 2, 2014

• When you vote by mail, make it count - May 23, 2014 California Voter Foundation op-ed and newsletter

• California's Vote-by-Mail Process - August 2013 overview/presentation to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration

• Election Reforms - What Should We Prioritize for 2013 and Beyond? - January 2013 presentation at the Future of California Elections conference

• Frequently Asked Questions about Vote-by-Mail balloting

Other Publications and Resources:

• Future of California Elections' Vote-by-Mail Messaging Toolkit, with additional resources in multiple languages, October 2014

• UC Davis' California Civic Engagement Project Policy briefs:

  • Disparities in California's Uncounted Vote-by-Mail Ballots: Youth, Party and Language Preference, October 2014

  • California's Uncounted Vote-by-Mail Ballots: Identifying Variation in County Processing, September 2014

  • Disparities in California's Vote-by-Mail Use; Changing Demographic Composition: 2002-2012, March 2014

• Vote-by-Mail Panel Discussion "Make Sure Every Vote Counts" video, October 14, 2014, hosted by the Future of California Elections, video by California Forward

• Pew Center on the States' Election Performance Index - featuring state-by-state comparisons of vote-by-mail program performance for 2008, 2010 and 2012

• Administration of Absentee Ballot Programs - July 2013 study by Barry C. Burden Professor of Political Science University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brian J. Gaines, Professor of Political Science Institute of Government and Public Affairs University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Historical Vote-by-Mail data - published by the California Secretary of State

• Early Voting Information Center - nonpartisan academic research center based at Reed College in Portland, OR

• Voting Technology, Vote-by-Mail and Residual Votes in California, 1990-2010 - CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project working paper, May 2011

 

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This page was first published on August 14, 2013 | Last updated on October 13, 2015
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