References

The following are selections for further reading based on primary and secondary sources consulted by museum staff for the development of the exhibition content, research essays, and educational programs and resources. Some sources relate directly to images and objects in this exhibition, while others provide general contextual information on the historic and contemporary events, trends, and issues from the 1800s to 2020s that have shaped election mail, absentee voting, registering to vote by mail, and voting by mail.

• An Act to Provide for Absentee Voting at Municipal Elections. Massachusetts No. 371 (1924). Accessed July 9, 2024.
• Ayres, BD. "Postage Stamp Ad Hailed as Booster: Joins Cancer Fight Greatest Bargain." The Washington Post, Times Herald. September 18, 1964.
• Baird, Danny, and Katherine Schauer. “How NASA Transmits Votes from the Space Station.” NASA. Modified November 2, 2020.
• Bamford, Tyler. “The Soldier Voting Act and Absentee Ballots in World War II.” The National WWII Museum. Modified October 19, 2020.
• Benton, Josiah H. Voting in the Field: A Forgotten Chapter of the Civil War. Boston: Privately Printed, 1915. [Note, digitized copies are available online.]
• Bruns, Franklin R. "Register and Vote Stamps Set for June: The Philatelist." The Washington Post, Times Herald. May 12, 1968.
• Carter, Russ W, and Military Postal History Society. War Ballots: Military Voting by Mail from the Civil War to WWII. Cypress, TX: Military Postal History Society, 2005.
• Election Assistance Commission. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• “Election Law—Absentee Ballots—Mail or Delivery Provision Held Mandatory.” Columbia Law Review, Vol. 42, no. 2, February 1942, 304-308.
• Fay, Jessica A. “Elderly Electors Go Postal: Ensuring Absentee Ballot Integrity for Older Voters.” The Elder Law Journal, Vol. 13, no. 2, January 2006, 454-487.
• Federal Voter Assistance Program. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Graff, Michael, and Nick Ochsner. “‘This Smacks of Something Gone Awry’: A True Tale of Absentee Vote Fraud.” Politico (November 29, 2021). Accessed July 9, 2024.
• Gronke, Paul, Eva Galanes-Rosenbaum, Peter A. Miller, and Daniel Toffey. “Convenience Voting.” Annual Review of Political Science. 11 (2008): 437-55. Accessed June 24, 2024.
• Gronke, Paul, Mindy S. Romero, Enrijeta Shino, and Daniel M. Thompson. “Vote by Mail in the United States.” MIT Election Data + Science Lab. White Paper. Accessed June 24, 2024.
• HarpWeek. “Election-Day.” Cartoons Voting and Election Results. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Harris, Joseph P. “Absent Voting; Mail Voting; the Canvasing Recounts” in Election Administration in the United States. Washington, DC: Bookings Institution, 1934. Accessed July 9, 2024.
• Heritage Foundation. “A Sampling of Recent Election Fraud Cases from across the United States.” Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Imai, Kosuke, and Gary King. “Did Illegal Overseas Absentee Ballots Decide the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election?” Perspectives on Politics 2, no. 3 (2004): 537–49.
• Inbody, Donald S. The Soldier Vote: War, Politics, and the Ballot in America. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
• Manning, Molly Guptill. "Fighting to Lose the Vote: How the Solider Voting Acts of 1942 and 1944 Disenfranchised America's Armed Forces." New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, Vol. 19, Issue 2 (2016), pp. 335-378. Accessed July 9, 2024.
• Manzanar Committee. “Voting is a Right in a Democracy.” Accessed February 24, 2024.
• McGhee, Eric, Jennifer Paluch, and Mindy Romero. “Vote-by-mail Policy and the 2020 Presidential Election.” Research and Politics, Vol. 9, no. 2, April-June 2022, 1-15.
• MIT Election Data + Science Lab. “Voting by Mail and Absentee Voting.” Explainer. Modified February 28, 2024.
• “Must Apply for Ballot in Order to Vote by Mail.” Richmond Times-Dispatch. September 26, 1916, 14.
• National Guard Bureau. “National Guard will support election in multiple states.” News. Modified November 2, 2020.
• Niebler, Sarah. “Vote-by-Mail: COVID-19 and the 2020 Presidential Primaries.” Society, Vol. 57, 2020, 547–553.
• Oregon Secretary of State. “Oregon Vote-by-Mail.” Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Ray, P. Orman. “Military Absent-Voting Laws.” The American Political Science Review,Vol. 12, no. 3 (1918): 461–69.
• Rosenfield, Margaret. “Innovations in Election Administration: All-Mail-Ballot Elections.” Washington D.C.: National Clearinghouse on Election Administration, September 1995. 
• Smith, Paul M. “’Use It or Lose It’: The Problem of Purges from the Registration Rolls of Voters Who Don’t Vote Regularly.” American Bar Association. Modified February 9, 2020.
• Southwell, Priscilla, and Justin Burchett. “Does Changing the Rules Change the Players? The Effect of All-Mail Elections on the Composition of the Electorate.” Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 81, no. 3, September 2000, 837-845.
• Special to The New York Times. “Coolidges Vote Before the Camera: Both Prepare Their Ballots for Sending by Mail, but Preserve Secrecy.” New York Times. October 31, 1924.
• Stamm, Amy. “How Do Astronauts Vote from Space?” National Air and Space Museum. Modified November 2, 2020.
• Steinbicker, Paul G. “Absentee Voting in the United States.” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 32, no. 5 (1938): 898–907.
• “The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.” Department of Justice. Modified April 5, 2023.
• United States Postal Service. “Election Mail.” About USPS. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• United States Postal Service. Postal Bulletin PB 22642. January 25, 2024. Accessed July 9, 2024.
• United States Postal Service. “Your Source for All Things Campaign Mail.” Deliver the Win. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Election & Political Mail.” Focus Area. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Election Mail Readiness for the 2022 Mid-Term Elections.” Audit Report. Modified September 26, 2022.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Four U.S. Postal Service Employees Indicted and Arrested for Delay of Election Mail.” Investigative Press Release. Modified March 14, 2024.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “International Election Mail Observations for the 2020 General and 2021 Georgia Senate Runoff Elections.” Audit Report. Modified April 29, 2021.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Military, Diplomatic, and Other International Election Mail.” Report. Modified September 30, 2020.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Processing Readiness of Election and Political Mail During the 2020 General Elections.” Audit Report. Modified August 31, 2020.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Service Performance of Election Mail for the 2022 Mid-Term Election.” Audit Report. Modified March 27, 2023.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Service Performance of Election and Political Mail During the November 2020 General Election.” Audit Report. Modified March 5, 2021.
• United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “Vote by Mail and the Postal Service: A Primer.” White Paper Report. Modified June 1, 2021.
• USAGov. “Voting and Elections.” Accessed June 24, 2024.
• Varner, Natasha. “Japanese Americans Incarcerated During WWII Could Still Vote, Kind Of.” Densho. Modified October 13, 2016.
• Vote.gov. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• White, Jonathan W. "Canvassing the Troops: The Federal Government and the Soldiers' Right to Vote." Civil War History, Vol. 50, no. 3, (Sep 2004): 291-317.
• Winther, Oscar Osburn. “The Soldier Vote in the Election of 1864.” New York History, Vol. 25, no. 4 (1944): 440–58.
• Wooley, Wayne. “New Jersey National Guard Supports Primary Election in Historic First.” US Department of Defense. Modified July 17, 2020.
• Yoder, Jesse, Cassandra Handan-Nader, Andrew Myers, Tobias Nowacki, Daniel M. Thompson, Jennifer A. Wu, Chenoa Yorgason, and Andrew B. Hall. “How did absentee voting affect the 2020 U.S. election?” Science Advances, Vol. 7, no. 52, December 2021, 1-8.
• Zornow, William F. “Indiana and the Election of 1864.” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 45, no. 1 (1949): 13–38.

REFERENCES FOR RECENT ACQUISITIONS

News articles and official reports online.

USPS election circular, 2020. Object 2023.2017.1

• Abramson, Alana. “Election Officials Say Postal Service Isn’t Helping States Prepare for a Surge in Mail Ballots.” September 17, 2020. Time. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Durkee, Alison. “Postal Service Agrees to Destroy Colorado Postcards with Mail-in Voting Misinformation after Uproar from States.” September 18, 2020. Forbes. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Sherman, Amy. “Fact-Checking Controversy over USPS Mail-in Voting Postcard.” September 16, 2020. Austin American Statesman. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• USPS News. “U.S. Postal Service Releases Updated 2020 Post-Election Analysis Highlighting Extraordinary Lengths to Deliver Ballots During Historic General Election Season.” January 19, 2021. Accessed February 24, 2024.

Absentee ballot sheet, Ohio, 2020. Object 2021.2003.1.2

• “Did I Get the Correct Ballot? How to Check Your Franklin County Absentee Ballot.” October 6, 2020. NBC4i.com. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Comer, James Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Hice, Jody Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Government Operations. Letter to Franklin County Board of Elections. October 20, 2020 U.S. House of Representatives. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Sellers, Aaron. “Status Update on Incorrect Ballots Mailed Out on Monday.” October 5, 2020. Franklin County, Ohio Board of Elections. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Sellers, Aaron. “Franklin County Board Issues Statement on Voter’s Receiving Incorrect Mail-In Ballots.” October 6, 2020. Franklin County, Ohio Board of Elections. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Sellers, Aaron. “Franklin County Board of Elections Update.” October 7, 2020. Franklin County, Ohio Board of Elections. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Sellers, Aaron. “Franklin County Board of Elections Determines 49,669 Voters Received Inaccurate Ballots; Board Will Send Corrected Ballots.” October 9, 2020. Franklin County, Ohio Board of Elections. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Weisblat, Evey. “Franklin County Reissues Nearly 50,000 Ballots after Debacle.” The Kenyon Collegian. Accessed February 24, 2024.

Mail ballot return envelope, Washington, DC, 2020. Object 2022.2019.1.5

• Kales, Eli. “Thousands of DC Absentee Ballots Returned as Undeliverable in 2020 Election.” December 2, 2021. The Hoya. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). “Executive Summary, Election Administration and Voting Survey 2020 Comprehensive Report: A Report From The U.S. Election Assistance Commission to the 117th Congress.” Published August 2021. Accessed February 24, 2024.

Voter information guide, California, 2022. Object 2024.2002.14

• Myers, John. “California’s Universal Voting by Mail Becomes Permanent.” September 27, 2021. Los Angeles Times. Accessed February 24, 2024.
• Weber, Shirley N., Ph.D. California Secretary of State. “'No Stamp, No Problem' - All Vote-by-Mail Ballots Now Come with Prepaid Postage Return Envelopes.” February 25, 2019. Accessed February 24, 2024.