The American Postal Workers Union has launched a major new campaign in support of voting-by-mail.
A new TV ad campaign launched in the crucial state of Ohio as voters cast primary ballots for the mid-term federal elections.
The ad features voters, including a busy mother, a firefighter, a farmer and a flight attendant, explaining why they cast their ballots by mail. It concludes with the slogan: “Vote by mail — keep it, protect it, expand it.”
It is running on TV and digital platforms in Ohio. A media buy will begin as primary election voting begins in Georgia next week and more will follow.
Alongside the ad, a bipartisan polling partnership, Hart Research and North Star Opinion Research, released a national survey of voters to understand how Americans view vote by mail and efforts to restrict or end the practice.
The polling found widespread support for voting by mail, expressing confidence in the USPS properly handling ballots. The pollsters’ memo reads:
American voters express confidence in the U.S. Postal Service to properly handle ballots that are sent through the mail. By about a two-to-one ratio, voters say they are very or fairly confident (62%) rather than not confident (32%).
Importantly, voters who themselves rely on vote by mail feel extremely confident about the U.S. Postal Service’s role in this process.
The survey also found widespread opposition to any attempts to abolish vote-by-mail. The memo continues:
When voters are informed that President Trump has proposed abolishing vote by mail, they reject this idea decisively. Just 35% of voters say they want to abolish vote by mail, and a 5 % majority say it should continue in states that offer it.
Opposition to a ban is especially strong among those Americans who regularly rely on the system to cast their own votes, with 4% saying vote by mail should continue and just 19% supporting abolition. In the West, just 2 % support the president’s proposal while 64% disagree.