Whether you call it “absentee” voting, “vote-by-mail,” or “vote at home,” more voters cast their vote on ballots delivered directly to them than ever before. And the trend is on the rise across red, blue, and purple states.

The National Vote At Home Institute, Center for Civic Design, and Center for Tech and Civic Life are pleased to offer three 1-hour webinars to help you bolster the security of elections, improve voter engagement, and reduce election-related costs through vote at home programs as you prepare for upcoming elections.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest challenge facing election administrators, and it continues to complicate the work you do. We believe election offices can adapt and find solutions—and we’re here to help.

What do you need? What worries you most about conducting elections during the COVID-19 pandemic? What would make your life easier?

This could be anything—how to recruit poll workers when people aren’t leaving their homes, how to maintain cybersecurity from your home office, how to expand vote-by-mail, and more.

Let us know by completing this quick survey on supporting elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementing envelope best practices

• Understand mail ballot envelope standards
• Learn how national templates can be adapted to your office’s needs
• Implement principles of plain language and design to help voters

Download the Implementing Envelope Design Best Practices slides, PDF, 28 mb

Preparing helpful supplementary materials

• Prioritize the info you want to communicate to those voting by mail
• Discover best practices for including inserts alongside mail ballots
• Plan clear online resources for voter education about vote-by-mail

Download the Preparing Helpful Supplementary Materials slides, PDF, 44 mb

Integrating low-cost tracking and reporting tools

• Try out tools for tracking ballots through the mail and at your office
• Get access to high priority support from the USPS
• Explore best practices for signature verification and voter intent

Download the Integrating Low-cost Tracking and Reporting Tools slides, PDF, 18 mb

Resources

Tool kit for scaling up vote-by-mail
Scale up your vote-by-mail program with templates, sample documents, and best practices
https://civicdesign.org/tool-kit-for-scaling-up-vbm/

Ballot Scout
Track ballots to and from the voter using barcodes with this tool
https://www.democracy.works/ballot-scout

Civic icons and images
Use visual resources for election materials
electiontools.org/tool/civic-icons-and-images/

Designing vote-at-home envelopes
Adapt layouts and design guidelines for the vote-by-mail national envelopes and inserts templates
https://civicdesign.org/fieldguides/104-designing-vote-at-home-envelopes/

Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent
Design and update election materials like ballots, voter instructions, and voter education booklets, using guidelines and templates based on solid research
https://civicdesign.org/fieldguides/

Report postal system issues directly to USPS
https://electionmail.org/

Signature guidelines
Review signature verification guidelines from the State of Colorado
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/docs/SignatureVerificationGuide.pdf

Tag 191s
Ensure election mailings stand out in USPS facilities by requesting Tag 191s
https://about.usps.com/gov-services/election-mail/

Usability testing toolkit
Get feedback from voters, poll workers, and other users using these tools and resources
https://electiontools.org/tool/usability-testing-kit/

USPS District Lead
Look up your local point of contact at the USPS
https://about.usps.com/gov-services/election-mail/political-mail-map.htm