This paper presents the most recent analysis of how different states conduct their elections, with an emphasis on the most contentious issues: whether and under what conditions people can vote early by mail; whether voter identification is required; and whether and by whom ballot harvesting is allowed.
The US Constitution requires that “the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for
Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof”
and that “each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a
Number of Electors” (for president). Perhaps not surprisingly, and for many reasons, states
vary considerably in the procedures they use in elections and vote counting. Historically,
there has been a tension between those who desire greater ease of access to voting and
those desiring that it be made more difficult to undermine the integrity, or perceived integrity,
of elections. This is not surprising when election outcomes can be very close, as they have
been in recent presidential, and some senate and congressional, races. Historically, there
have been some classic examples of fraud. Take, for instance, the Democratic primary of
the 1948 US Senate race, in which Lyndon B. Johnson eventually defeated Coke Stevenson
by 87 votes. Days after the polls had closed, an additional 202 allegedly fraudulent votes
were tallied in alphabetical order, apparently all in the same handwriting, of which Johnson
won 200. Correspondingly, there have historically been numerous examples of denying
suffrage. Prominent examples include the denial of suffrage to women and the poll tax that
disproportionally denied suffrage to African Americans, both of which were declared illegal,
by the Nineteenth and Twenty-Fourth Amendments, respectively.