Mail-in voting is again a topic of debate, with President Donald Trump recently calling for an end to the practice, saying on his social media platform Truth Social, it is “Highly Inaccurate, Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial.”

Trump and other critics think mail-in voting is expensive and vulnerable to fraud. However, studies show little evidence of widespread fraud in vote-by-mail systems, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.

Trump’s comments come as Utah rolled back universal mail-in voting in March, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this summer to hear a case out of Illinois that challenges that state’s vote-by-mail rules.

Mail-in voting is not new. Records show that its use — initially for military purposes — dates back to the Civil War. Most recently, its use expanded nationwide for the 2020 primaries, when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns disrupted elections.

Today, eight states and Washington, D.C., allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which compiles the data.

Two states permit counties to opt into conducting elections by mail. Nine states allow specific small elections to be conducted by mail and four states permit mostly mail elections for certain small jurisdictions, according to the NCSL.

To help give you an idea of the scope of voting by mail, WeVote has compiled a timeline of key moments in its history and the changing approaches to early and absentee voting methods:

1864 – Soldiers’ Vote From Battlefields in the Civil War

Union and Confederate soldiers cast their ballots for the first time from the battlefields in the presidential election between then-incumbent President Abraham Lincoln and General George B. McClellan.

1896 – Vermont Pioneers Civilian Absentee Voting

First civilian absentee voting allowed in Vermont.

1936 – Absentee Ballots Gain Traction

Nearly 2% of 45 million voters used absentee ballots.

1942 and 1944 – Laws Passed for Soldiers Overseas in WWII

Congress passes laws concerning absentee voting for soldiers stationed overseas during World War II.

Late 1970s and 1980s – Rise of ‘No-Excuse’ Voting by Mail

States began expanding absentee voting, allowing voters to request a mail-in ballot for any reason.

1998 – Oregon Leads on Universal Vote by Mail

Oregon becomes the first state to allow voting by mail when voters pass a law allowing the practice for the primary and general elections by a vote of 757,204 to 334,021.

2000 – ‘No-Excuse’ Voting Spreads to 21 States

Twenty-one states allow “no-excuse” mail-in voting, paving the way for a growing number of states to implement the same format over the ensuing years.

2024 – Mail Voting Widely Available Nationwide

Thirty-six states and Washington, D.C., offer all voters the option to vote by mail without the need to cite a reason ahead of the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Trump.

March 2025 – Utah Pulls Back on Universal Mail Voting

The state’s Republican legislature passed a bill requiring voters to opt-in to receive ballots by mail and adds new identification requirements for mail-in returns beginning in 2029.

July 2025 – Supreme Court Takes Illinois Ballot Case

The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a lawsuit challenging Illinois’ vote-by-mail rules that allow ballots to be counted within 14 days of Election Day if they’re postmarked by Election Day.

August 2025 – Trump Pushes to End Mail-In Voting

On Truth Social, Trump announces he is calling for an end to mail-in voting.

It’s unclear about next steps on the push to ban mail-in voting. But lawsuits have been filed against an executive order Trump issued in March calling for the requirement of documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration and for the enforcement of mail-in ballot deadline rules. A court challenge alleges the President does not have the authority to dictate U.S. election rules.

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