statutes. As of 2022, only four states do not currently offer in-person early voting: Alabama, Connecticut, Mississippi, and New Hampshire. However, in 2022, Connecticut voters approved a state constitutional amendment authorizing in-person early voting in Connecticut for future elections. In addition to (or in lieu of) in-person early voting, all states offer absentee ballots to some voters, with significant differences among states. As of 2022, 35 states and D.C. offer "no-excuse absentee voting" in which any qualified voter may cast an absentee ballot without an excuse; in the remaining states, an absentee ballot will only be provided to a voter with a valid excuse. Absentee ballots (also called mail-in ballots) are often returned to election offices by mail (see postal voting in the United States) but some states offer "in-person absentee voting" (in which the voter requests, completes, signs, and submits the absentee ballot at a polling place). The voting experience for in-person absentee balloting is similar to the early-voting experience. States adopted early voting at different times. For example, Florida officially began early voting in 2004, and voters in Maryland approved a constitutional amendment in November 2008 to allow early voting, starting with the primary elections in 2010. Early voting was first used in Massachusetts for the general election of November 2016. New York began early voting in 2019, as a result of a state law requiring eight days of early voting throughout the state. The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States led many states both to reduce the number of polling stations for the 2020 United States elections and to relax requirements for both mail-in and early voting, including mailing applications to all active registered voters and providing drop-boxes for ballots. In the November 2020 elections, about 26% of votes nationwide were cast by early in-person voting, as compared to 46% of votes cast by mail/absentee ballot and 28% of votes cast in Election Day in-person voting. After the attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, following false claims of widespread voter fraud in the election by Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers initiated a push to restrict early voting (see Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election). References External links Elections Voting