Permanent absentee voting signup: Now available as a standalone tool

At VoteAmerica, we know that reducing obstacles to voting drives participation in our democracy. And one of the best ways to reduce obstacles is to send voters a ballot in the mail for every single election.

For instance, in universal vote by mail (UVBM) states, where all voters are sent a ballot without needing to proactively request one, 2020 turnout was 0.6 percentage points higher than turnout in battleground states in that same election. 

The next-best thing to UVBM is permanent absentee voting (PAV), where voters can sign up once to receive ballots in the mail for all subsequent elections. We’ve done a ton of research on how PAV impacts turnout that you can read more about here, but here’s one highlight that’s hard to ignore:

Our multivariate regression analysis that controlled for age, gender, marital status, race, voter history, and county turnout found an average turnout lift from PAV of 13.53 percentage points for Montana 2022 and 12.89 percentage points for Arizona 2022.

It’s compelling enough that, for the first time, we’ve released an embeddable voter tool designed for voters in a limited set of states: the PAV states. (Of course, it also provides clear guidance should a voter from a non-PAV state enter the flow.)

The voter experience

As of March 2025, our new standalone Permanent Absentee Voting tool is designed especially for voters in these nine PAV states: Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Virginia. (To be added once its signup processes are built out: Utah, which unfortunately is downgrading from a universal vote by mail state.) 

The tool asks the voter for some basic information then guides them through the process of signing up to be a permanent absentee voter in their state.

Even if an online option is available in the voter’s state, the tool will always email the voter with a PDF they can print and mail to complete their signup, just in case they weren’t able to finish the online process. 

If the voter doesn’t live in a PAV state, that’s OK. The tool will give them the option to sign up for a one-time ballot if applicable. Or if they live in a UVBM state, it will let them know: You’re already a permanent absentee voter!

Entering from the Absentee tool

In July 2024, we told you about a new feature within our Absentee ballot request tool that supported PAV signup in states where it’s available. Nothing has changed there from the voter’s perspective: Voters in PAV states can still start from the Absentee tool and select the option to sign up for PAV. 

The only difference is that, under the hood for our VoteAmerica+ customers, this now results in a PAV action being logged. 

Adding the PAV tool to your website

If you’re a VoteAmerica+ customer, you can find your custom PAV tool embed code in the customer portal, and stats and data exports are available just like for any other VoteAmerica+ tool. A PAV action will be logged:

• Each time a voter uses the standalone PAV tool
• Each time a voter uses the Absentee tool in a PAV state and, when presented with the option, chooses to sign up for PAV (these will be marked with a “Referring tool” of “Absentee”).

Check out docs.voteamerica.org for details on the data export format and the JavaScript events the tool produces. 

We think this will be a great offering for state-based organizations operating in PAV states or national orgs who want to run state-level PAV signup drives. 

Not yet a VoteAmerica+ customer? You can access a free version of the tool here, or visit voteamericaplus.org to learn about our full software suite.