More than 19 million voters had returned mail ballots as of late October ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, according to data from the University of Florida Election Lab. Despite sustained criticism from former President Donald Trump, who has sought to curtail the practice, voting by mail remains an integral part of the American electoral process, though its prevalence has declined from the peaks seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, more than 60 million mail ballots had been requested or sent to voters nationwide by midweek, signaling a continued dependence on this method. While mail voting surged in 2020 amid the pandemic, particularly among Democratic voters, recent patterns suggest a modest retreat, with some Democrats shifting toward early in-person voting this year.

Polling data from a Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos survey indicated that 27 percent of likely voters expected to cast ballots by mail in 2026, while 41 percent planned to vote in person on Election Day. Early in-person voting was favored by 24 percent, and 8 percent anticipated using drop boxes or government offices for ballot submission.

Examining five states—Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—provides an early window into mail voting trends this cycle. According to an analysis by MIT elections expert Charles Stewart III, requests for mail ballots in these states were down compared to the same period in 2022. The declines were most pronounced in Georgia, with a 50 percent drop, while Pennsylvania saw a modest 7 percent decrease. Party registration data from these states also revealed a narrowing partisan gap: mail ballot requests among registered Democrats declined more steeply in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, whereas Republican requests increased or fell less sharply.

In Nevada, separate data from VoteHub, a nonpartisan ballot-tracking organization, showed Democrats moving away from mail voting more rapidly than Republicans, with 18 percent of early in-person voters having used mail ballots compared to 10 percent of Republican early in-person voters. Zachary Donnini, VoteHub’s head of data science, noted that early in-person voting in 2026 appeared to lean Democratic, while mail ballot returns were lower than expected for the party.

Efforts by Trump and his administration to restrict mail voting were largely unsuccessful. In 2026, Trump signed an executive order intended to limit mail ballots to voters listed on official government rosters, but the Supreme Court blocked this directive following litigation from voting rights groups and Democratic-led states. The court's ruling also set aside a Postal Service plan that could have hindered delivery of eligible mail ballots due to new procedural requirements.

Concerns over postal delivery delays remain acute. Election officials in Wisconsin reported hundreds of mail ballots arriving too late to be counted in an April judicial race, and Washington state saw significant increases in rejected late ballots during recent primaries. As Election Day approaches, officials nationwide are urging voters to submit mail ballots early or to deliver them in person or via drop boxes where available.

Mail voting rules continue to vary widely across the country. Washington, D.C., along with eight states, conduct universal vote-by-mail elections, automatically distributing ballots to all registered voters. Meanwhile, 29 states offer no-excuse absentee voting, and 13 maintain restrictions requiring a valid reason for mail ballot requests. Some states have enacted laws limiting the counting of late-arriving ballots, though enforcement has faced legal challenges.

Election administrators and voting rights advocates have raised concerns about strict new requirements in certain states leading to ballot rejections over minor errors. Conversely, other states, such as Michigan, have expanded access by enabling voters to receive mail ballots automatically for all elections following a 2022 ballot measure.

The evolving landscape of mail voting reflects ongoing debates about election security and accessibility ahead of the midterms, with both voter preferences and regulatory approaches adapting in different directions across the United States.