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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Does it appear that rejection rates for mail ballots were much lower than expected in the 2020 general election?

By Esther Tsvayg
YES

The 2020 expansion in mail voting prompted by the coronavirus pandemic spurred worries that more voters would make disqualifying mistakes on their ballots. Early figures indicate errors were much less frequent than in 2016 or 2018.

The share of mail ballots nationwide that were rejected increased from 1% in 2016 to 1.4% in 2018, according to Ballotpedia. Initial counts suggest rates in 2020 were well under those levels: 0.2% of mail ballots were rejected in Georgia, 0.15% in Iowa, 0.1% in Michigan, 0.8% in North Carolina, and 0.03% in Pennsylvania.

Many states simplified rules and extended deadlines this year. Wide publicity about mail voting and voter-outreach efforts may have helped reduce errors as well. Additionally, litigation in the past two years led to a dozen more states creating processes for correcting (curing) ballots, joining seven that already permitted the practice.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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