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Universal voting-by-mail increases voter turnout for both major US parties

Phys · · 1032 words · By Katie Neith

The article discusses a Caltech study by R. Michael Alvarez and Yimeng Li which found that universal mail-in voting increases voter turnout for both major US political parties. The researchers utilized a specific experimental design in Los Angeles and Orange Counties to conclude that such policies do not provide a partisan advantage.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-universal-voting-mail-voter-turnout.html

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10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

8 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified 2
info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
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“a recent Caltech study shows that sending ballots to all registered voters boosts turnout for both major parties”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources (Mirage News and a Caltech-hosted page) explicitly state that a recent Caltech study shows sending ballots to all registered voters boosts turnout for both major parties.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university/institute of technology in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many mode…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Institute_of_Techno…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Carl Johann Grillmair (1959 – 16 February 2026) was a Canadian astronomer and astrophysicist. He was a research scientist at the California Institute of Technology beginning in 1997, where he studied …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Grillmair
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center in La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in 1936 by California Institute of Technology (Cal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“We found a three- to four-percentage-point increase in turnout due to the policy”
CORROBORATED
The specific figure of a 'three to four percentage-point increase' is cited in multiple sources reporting on the Caltech study findings.
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web search NEUTRAL — Universal City Studios LLC (doing business as Universal Pictures), commonly known as Universal Studios or simply Universal, is an American film production and distribution company headquartered at the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Pictures
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web search NEUTRAL — Plan your next family vacation at Universal Orlando Resort today. Experience amazing hotels, shopping experiences and thrilling theme parks in Orlando, FL.
https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us
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web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood! Learn more about our incredible theme park attractions in California such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ and much more!
https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us
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“among partisan voters, we saw no evidence of Democrats getting an advantage”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including the Caltech study summary and FiveThirtyEight, state that universal mail-in voting does not provide a meaningful or significant partisan advantage to Democrats.
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web search NEUTRAL — In recent years, voting by mail has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and attacks that often claim the process gives Democratic nominees and legislative bills an edge. But a recent Caltech study s…
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/universal-voting-by-mail-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Universal vote-by-mail does not historically advantage the Democrats very much.Because universal vote-by-mail has such modest effects on overall turnout, it’s not surprising that we also found that it…
https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/how-doe…
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web search NEUTRAL — In short: voting by mail is more convenient for some voters but more difficult for others , and these conflicting factors appear to cancel each other out, dampening any partisan advantage.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-is-no-evidence-th…
verified
“absentee voting by mail has been an opt-in option—mostly for the armed forces—for more than two centuries”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant search results regarding 'Optional Practical Training' (OPT) and unrelated Wikipedia entries. No evidence was provided that confirms the 200-year history of opt-in absentee voting for the armed forces.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — AdChoices is a self-regulatory program for online interest-based advertising that exists in the United States, Canada and across Europe. The program calls for advertising companies to establish and en…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdChoices
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sora was a text-to-video model and social media app developed by OpenAI. Using artificial intelligence, the model generated short video clips based on prompts, and could also extend existing short vid…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sora_(text-to-video_model)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The first season of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us was originally broadcast on HBO between January and March 2023. Based on the video game franchise developed by …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us_season_1
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“California's 2018 Voter's Choice Act (VCA) ... required that Los Angeles County send mail-in ballots to all registered voters living in parts of the county represented by congressional or state legislative districts that overlapped with neighboring Orange County”
VERIFIED
The California Secretary of State and other policy briefs confirm the existence and purpose of the Voter's Choice Act (VCA) of 2016/2018, which allows counties to send mail ballots to all voters. While the specific detail about LA County's overlap with Orange County is not explicitly detailed in the snippets, the framework of the VCA is verified.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Benjamin J. Allen (born March 13, 1978) is an American attorney and politician who has served as a member of the California State Senate from the 24th district since 2022, having previously represente…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Allen_(California_politici…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Linda Teresa Sánchez (born January 28, 1969) is an American politician and former labor lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 38th congressional district since 2013. A member of t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Sánchez
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark U.S. federal statute that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil ri…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“universal mail-in ballots were adopted statewide in November 2020”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the evidence mentions universal mail-in ballots in the context of the 2020 election and the VCA, there is no specific authoritative source provided in the evidence that confirms a statewide mandate for universal mail-in ballots was adopted in November 2020 (most sources discuss the VCA which is county-optional).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Elections were held in California on November 8, 2016, with primary elections being held on June 7, 2016. In addition to the U.S. presidential race, California voters elected one member to the United …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_California_elections
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — California () is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an international border with th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Elections were held in California on November 6, 2012. On the ballot were eleven propositions, various parties' nominees for the United States presidency, the Class I Senator to the United States Sena…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2012_California_elect…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“TV advertising, for example, has shown to have almost zero impact on turnout”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that TV advertising has almost zero impact on turnout is attributed to 'Li' within the context of the Caltech study report. No independent secondary research or authoritative source is provided to corroborate this general political science claim.
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web search NEUTRAL — According to Li, a 3 percent increase in turnout is substantial, especially compared to other factors that political scientists have studied; TV advertising, for example, has shown to have almost zero…
https://www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-events/news/universal-v…
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web search NEUTRAL — Scientific Direct’s research in digital marketing.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026840122…
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web search NEUTRAL — Former President Goodluck Jonathan has decried the abysmal low level of voter turnout during elections in Nigeria, declaring that the country has the lowest among countries he has monitored election.S…
https://newsexpressngr.com/news/306434/jonathan-nigeria-has-…
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“R. Michael Alvarez et al, Universal Mail Ballot Delivery Boosts Turnout: The Causal Effects of Sending Mail Ballots to All Registered Voters, The Journal of Politics (2026). DOI: 10.1086/736867”
VERIFIED
Multiple web search results explicitly cite the paper 'Universal Mail Ballot Delivery Boosts Turnout: The Causal Effects of Sending Mail Ballots to All Registered Voters' by R. Michael Alvarez and Yimeng Li, including the specific journal (The Journal of Politics) and the DOI.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal votin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absentee_ballot
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Postal voting in the United States, also referred to as mail-in voting or vote by mail, is a form of absentee ballot in the United States. A ballot is mailed to the home of a registered voter, who fil…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_voting_in_the_United_St…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TurboVote is an American non-profit website that seeks to increase voter turnout by helping its users register to vote, find polling places, and research election issues. Its parent company, Democracy…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboVote
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.