Recent absentee ballot rejection rates according to Ballotpedia:
2024: 1.2%
2022: 1.5%
2020: 0.8%
2018: 1.4%
2016: 1.0%.
The New York Times indicated in October 2012 that rejection rates for absentee ballots are typically closer to 2.0%, double what they are for in-person voting. The closest we recently got to 2.0% was in 2022, but still lower than 2.0% by half a point, and the massive mail-in vote in 2020 arguably should have produced a rejection rate higher than 2.0%. Instead we got the lowest rejection rate yet, 0.8%.
That doesn't make any sense.
Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises
... Nationwide, the use of absentee ballots and other forms of voting by mail has more than tripled since 1980 and now accounts for almost 20 percent of all votes.
Yet votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth, statistics show. Election officials reject almost 2 percent of ballots cast by mail, double the rate for in-person voting.
“The more people you force to vote by mail,” Mr. Sancho said, “the more invalid ballots you will generate.” ...
