Absentee voting in the United Kingdom is allowed by proxy or post (known as postal voting on demand) for any elector. Postal voting does not require a reason, apart from in Northern Ireland, where postal voting is available only if it would be unreasonable to expect a voter to go to a polling station on polling day as a result of employment, disability or education restrictions. Proxy voting is allowed for people who will be away, working, or medically disabled. Anyone eligible to vote in the election may be a proxy for close relatives and two unrelated people. In May 2003, 35 local authorities trialled all-postal voting. The outcome of those pilots was a recommendation from the UK Electoral Commission that all-postal voting should be adopted as the normal method of voting at local elections in the UK. This reflected the positive impact on voter turnout at these elections (in some places, turnout doubled) and the fact that there was no evidence of an increase in electoral fraud. A 2016 government review said about postal voting, that "Evidence was presented of pressure being put on vulnerable members of some ethnic minority communities, particularly women and young people, to vote according to the will of the elders... the possibilities of undue influence, theft of postal votes and tampering with them after completion were all still risks." United States Voters may vote early or get a mailed ballot to mail back or take to a secure box or office. Most areas do not require a reason. Five states and some counties have all-postal elections. Vote-by-mail has been implemented in both Republican and Democratic states, but it became a political controversy in 2020. Availability of postal voting increases turnout. Americans living outside the United States and members of the military and merchant marine even inside the country, and their families, may register and vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Almost half the states require these ballots to be returned by mail. Other states allow mail along with some combination of fax, or email; four states allow a web portal. Security of mailed ballots is controlled by using special paper in some areas, and, more often, by requiring signatures of voters and sometimes witnesses. Signature comparisons are imperfect; the best academic researchers have 10-14% error rates. Thousands of ballots fail the signature checks and are rejected. Evidence of fraud