Majority of Americans Now Believe Voters Should Be Able to Cast Ballots by Mail in Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic, Study Finds

The coronavirus pandemic could be creating a shift in the way that Americans view absentee voting and voting by mail, a new study has suggested.

The Center for Voter Information survey, which was conducted by Democracy Corps and saw 2,000 people across 16 battleground states polled, found that the majority of participants had embraced mail-in and absentee voting "regardless of the reason" for seeking the option.

Sixty-eight percent of participants in the survey, which was conducted between March 31 and April 5, said they supported the idea of everyone in their state receiving a vote-by-mail ballot, with 83 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans in agreement.

Meanwhile, absentee voting options attracted even greater bipartisan support, with 73 percent in favor, including 85 percent of all Democrats and 59 percent of all Republicans.

Page Gardner, the founder and board chair of the Center for Voter Information, said she believed support for mail-in and absentee voting could be credited to the new difficulties that voters face in exercising their right to vote in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are witnessing a giant shift in American's perceptions towards absentee voting and voting by mail. The pandemic has altered how people want to vote," Gardner said in a statement shared with Newsweek.

"Americans are making clear that they want to participate in democracy safely, without being forced to choose between their health and the right to vote," Gardner said.

Indeed, in the wake of the pandemic, nearly half of participants in the poll (47 percent) said they planned to vote from home with a mail-in ballot in the upcoming November presidential election.

Participants reported feeling "anxious," "nervous," scared," lonely," and "depressed" due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which has been connected to 26,059 deaths in the U.S. alone, according to an online tracker maintained by the Johns Hopkins University.

The below graph, provided by Statista, shows the number and spread of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

With Republicans and Supreme Court justices facing backlash for blocking efforts to postpone Wisconsin's recent primary election in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Gardner suggested that more people are thinking about the safety concerns election time will pose.

"With the Voter Participation Center, our partner organization, we run the nation's largest mail-based voter registration and turnout programs. In April alone, we will send nearly 12 million pieces of registration mail to prospective voters in 20 states," Gardner said. "What we've learned over the years is that Americans are looking for safe voting options."

"All states must offer a mail-in voting option and provide safe ways for voters to participate in primary and general elections in person, including early-vote options," Gardner asserted.