Mail-in voting statistics at a glance
Mail-in voting in the 2024 general election was not a niche channel. It was a major piece of turnout, ballot processing, and election logistics across the country, with the EAC 2024 EAVS Report and the USPS 2024 post-election report giving a detailed view of how ballots moved from voters to election officials and into the count.
Big number: mail voting accounted for 30.3% of turnout nationwide in the 2024 general election (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
Another anchor figure: the 2024 general election included 66,867,671 mail ballots transmitted nationwide, 47,957,093 returned, and 47,629,437 counted. That means nearly all returned mail ballots were counted, with 98.8% of returned ballots counted (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
Fast facts
- 158,211,780 counted ballots were reported nationwide in the 2024 general election (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- 64.7% of the citizen voting age population cast ballots in 2024 (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- USPS processed 99.22 million ballots for the 2024 general election (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- USPS said 99.88% of ballots sent by voters to election officials were delivered within seven days in 2024 (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- The EAC report says more than 585,000 mail ballots entered the cure process in 2024 (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- The EAC report says 36 states reported using ballot drop boxes in 2024, and 32 of those states could track counts and reported 14,958 drop boxes used for the election (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
Table of contents
- What the national mail voting totals show
- Which states relied most on mail ballots
- Where mail voting was comparatively low
- What USPS delivery data says about ballot movement
- What cure processes and drop boxes add to the picture
- How to read these mail-in voting statistics
What the national mail voting totals show
The cleanest way to read mail-in voting statistics is to separate three questions: how many mail ballots were sent out, how many came back, and how many were counted. The 2024 general election gives all three at national scale.
According to the EAC 2024 EAVS Report, 66,867,671 mail ballots were transmitted nationwide. Of those, 47,957,093 were returned and 47,629,437 were counted. That is a large funnel, but it is also a highly efficient one once ballots are returned. The return rate from transmitted to returned ballots is substantial, and the count rate from returned ballots is especially strong at 98.8% (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
A useful way to think about this is that mail voting was not just a convenience option. It was a scaled election channel that moved tens of millions of ballots in one cycle.
Why that matters
- Mail voting contributed 30.3% of turnout nationwide in 2024 (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- The channel was large enough to influence election administration timing, ballot tracking, and curing workflows.
- The gap between transmitted, returned, and counted ballots shows where administrative friction can appear, even when the final counted share stays high.
Key takeaway: the national data suggests that the main bottleneck is not counting returned mail ballots, but getting ballots returned in the first place and managing the smaller share that needs curing or other follow-up (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
Which states relied most on mail ballots
The state data shows just how different election systems can be from one another. Some states had mail voting as the dominant channel, while others used it far less often.
| State | Mail turnout | Mail ballots transmitted | Returned | Counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 99.3% | 3,038,435 | 2,291,579 | 2,253,114 |
| Washington | 98.5% | 5,169,231 | 3,927,132 | 3,890,945 |
| Hawaii | 92.5% | 755,841 | 487,239 | 483,078 |
| Colorado | 91.3% | 4,090,266 | 3,000,301 | 2,957,550 |
| Utah | 91.5% | 1,475,522 | 1,268,103 | 1,239,070 |
| California | 80.8% | 23,003,434 | 13,185,566 | 13,062,318 |
| Arizona | 74.7% | 3,582,082 | 2,859,348 | 2,816,885 |
| Vermont | 64.7% | 441,666 | 237,565 | 240,375 |
| Indiana | 53.7% | 1,616,735 | 1,607,247 | 1,603,815 |
| Washington, D.C. | 51.1% | 453,858 | 169,280 | 168,111 |
A few patterns stand out in this comparison.
First, the highest mail-turnout states are concentrated in the West, with Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, California, and Arizona all showing very high mail reliance in the EAC 2024 EAVS Report.
Second, large-population states can still deliver huge mail ballot volumes even if their percentage depends on the model in use. California transmitted 23,003,434 mail ballots, the largest mail volume in the list above, while still posting 80.8% turnout by mail (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
Third, high mail turnout does not automatically mean identical return and count totals. That difference can reflect election structure, ballot acceptance rules, and the timing of return processing, all of which show up in the reported numbers.
States with especially high mail reliance
- Oregon: 99.3% turnout by mail and 3,038,435 mail ballots transmitted (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- Washington: 98.5% turnout by mail and 5,169,231 mail ballots transmitted (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- Hawaii: 92.5% turnout by mail with 483,078 counted ballots (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- Utah: 91.5% turnout by mail with 1,239,070 counted ballots (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- Colorado: 91.3% turnout by mail and 2,957,550 counted ballots (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
These states show mail voting functioning as a default path, not a backup path.
Where mail voting was comparatively low
The other side of the dataset matters just as much. Some states and territories reported very low mail turnout percentages, even though they still moved meaningful ballot volumes.
| State or territory | Mail turnout | Mail ballots transmitted | Returned | Counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guam | 0.3% | 77 | 54 | 45 |
| Tennessee | 2.8% | 98,452 | 88,748 | 86,904 |
| West Virginia | 2.9% | 24,830 | 22,624 | 22,377 |
| Texas | 3.3% | 463,200 | 398,270 | 384,221 |
| South Carolina | 3.8% | 108,922 | 101,585 | 98,782 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 3.8% | 648 | 613 | 613 |
| North Carolina | 5.2% | 451,176 | 307,185 | 298,269 |
| Georgia | 5.1% | 327,241 | 273,512 | 268,751 |
| Alabama | 5.5% | 140,558 | 126,018 | 126,018 |
| Kentucky | 5.6% | 131,762 | 120,400 | 116,324 |
Low mail turnout does not mean low ballot traffic in absolute terms. Texas, for example, still transmitted 463,200 mail ballots and counted 384,221 of them, even though its mail turnout share was only 3.3% (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
That is one of the most important lessons in the data: percentage and volume can tell very different stories. A low percentage can still represent a large administrative workload when a state has a large electorate.
What low-share states show
- Some jurisdictions use mail voting as a narrow access tool rather than a dominant channel.
- Ballot-counting efficiency remains high even where the overall share is low.
- Volume still matters for election operations, because even single-digit percentages can mean hundreds of thousands of ballots.
What USPS delivery data says about ballot movement
The USPS 2024 post-election report adds a different layer of mail-in voting statistics: delivery performance. This is not the same thing as election turnout, but it helps explain whether ballots moved quickly through the postal system once they were in the mail stream.
The USPS reported that it processed 99.22 million ballots for the 2024 general election. It also said it delivered 99.88% of ballots sent by voters to election officials within seven days, 99.64% within five days, 97.73% within three days, and that the average completed ballot was delivered from voters to election officials within one day during the 2024 general election (USPS 2024 post-election report).
Those figures tell a clear story about the speed of ballot movement once ballots are in transit. The system, at least by USPS’s own post-election analysis, was moving ballots quickly enough that most ballots arrived well within a week.
Delivery metrics to keep in view
- 99.22 million ballots processed by USPS in 2024 (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- 99.88% delivered within seven days (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- 99.64% delivered within five days (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- 97.73% delivered within three days (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- One day average delivery for completed ballots (USPS 2024 post-election report).
- 3.37 billion pieces of Political Mail and Election Mail delivered in 2024 (USPS 2024 post-election report).
Big number: USPS delivered 3.37 billion pieces of Political Mail and Election Mail in 2024, showing the postal system’s election load extended far beyond ballot envelopes alone (USPS 2024 post-election report).
What cure processes and drop boxes add to the picture
Mail-in voting statistics are incomplete if they stop at return and count totals. Two additional administration layers matter in the EAC report: curing and drop boxes.
The EAC says more than 585,000 mail ballots entered the cure process in 2024. That is a meaningful subset of mail ballots and a reminder that not every returned ballot arrives in perfect condition or with perfect information attached (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
The EAC also says 36 states reported using ballot drop boxes in 2024. In those 36 states, 32 could track drop-box counts and reported 14,958 drop boxes used for the election (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
These figures matter because they show how mail voting can be supported by a wider ballot-return infrastructure. Mail ballots are not just mailed and counted; they may also move through drop boxes, cure processes, and ballot-tracking systems before final tabulation.
A compact reading of the support systems
- Cure processes handle ballot problems after return and before counting.
- Drop boxes add another return channel alongside postal delivery.
- Tracking and reporting capacity vary by state, which affects how much of the process can be measured cleanly.
The operational signal
The presence of 14,958 tracked drop boxes across 32 states with usable counts suggests that physical return infrastructure remained a major part of the 2024 mail ballot ecosystem (EAC 2024 EAVS Report). Combined with USPS delivery data, the picture is not of a single pipe, but of a multi-path system.
How to read these mail-in voting statistics
The best way to use these mail-in voting statistics is to separate system scale from system shape.
Scale
- Nationwide, mail voting represented 30.3% of turnout (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- The U.S. saw 66,867,671 mail ballots transmitted and 47,629,437 counted (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- USPS handled 99.22 million ballots in the 2024 general election (USPS 2024 post-election report).
Shape
- Some states used mail ballots for nearly all voting, like Oregon and Washington, while others used them at very low rates (EAC 2024 EAVS Report).
- High mail turnout states often also reported large transmitted and counted totals, which means both percentage and absolute workload can be high at the same time.
- The cure process and drop-box reporting show that mail voting is part of a larger election workflow, not just a mailing exercise.
Practical takeaways from the dataset
- If you are comparing states, look at both mail turnout percentage and ballot volume.
- If you are evaluating ballot processing, compare transmitted, returned, and counted totals together.
- If you are looking at election logistics, USPS delivery performance and EAC cure/drop-box figures help explain where the system is fast and where it needs extra handling.
- If you are reading national headlines about mail voting, the most important thing to remember is that the 2024 data shows both breadth and efficiency: large volume, high return-and-count rates, and wide variation by state (EAC 2024 EAVS Report; USPS 2024 post-election report).
One more way to frame the data
- Nationally important: mail voting accounted for nearly one-third of turnout.
- State-level variable: some states were effectively all-mail systems, others relied on it lightly.
- Operationally visible: USPS and EAC data together show the pipeline from transmission to final count.
The result is a data story with two layers at once: mail voting was a major component of the 2024 general election, and its usage looked very different depending on where you were looking. The numbers are strong enough to support both observations without needing any extra assumptions.