New Jersey introduced a smart voting reform—then let it lapse
The automatic right to vote from home helped make the state’s turnout the highest in America
The covid-19 pandemic changed a lot of things. For some states, this included voting. Four states (California, Nevada, New Jersey and Vermont) and the District of Columbia decided to automatically send every voter a mail-in ballot. Five other states (Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington) already did this before the pandemic. After implementing this temporary change for the 2020 presidential election New Jersey had the highest voter turnout in the country after Washington, DC. Then it did what any reasonable government would do when something goes well. It allowed the provision to expire.
Explore more
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Fuhgeddaboudit!”
United States December 9th 2023
- How the culture wars came for grizzly bears
- Who will fill the expelled George Santos’s seat?
- One in five young Americans thinks the Holocaust is a myth
- Our tracker of voters’ intentions shows the contest behind Trump
- New Jersey introduced a smart voting reform—then let it lapse
- American life-sciences firms are moving labs downtown
- Charlie Peters, the man who tried to save Washington
From the December 9th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
A protest against America’s TikTok ban is mired in contradiction
Another Chinese app is not the alternative some young Americans think it is
How Joe Biden wound up serving Donald Trump
In some ways, his administration will look less like an interregnum than like MAGA-lite
How bad will the smoke be for Angelenos’ health?
Expect more sickness and disrupted schooling
Should you have to prove your age before watching porn?
America’s Supreme Court weighs a Texan law aimed at protecting kids
Tulsi Gabbard, Sean Penn and the hunt for an American hostage
A controversial trip to Syria in 2017 produced a possible sighting of Austin Tice, an imprisoned journalist
How flush Americans feel depends on their views of Donald Trump
Republicans expect a Trumponomics boom, Democrats dread a bust