A 2015 study reported that the Utah cities and counties which voted by mail increased voter turnout. And, cities with numerous options including SDR are more likely to have a higher turnout. The Utah Foundation sampled 70 cities providing VBM and found that Utah cities conducting all VBM elections saw an average increase in turnout from 21 percent in 2011 to 38 percent in 2015.
VBM has been criticized in that it mobilizes people already predisposed to vote such as long-term residents and registered partisans who turn out at higher rates regardless of the availability of VBM; they add that VBM puts people who move frequently at a disadvantage, specifically low-income households and residents of dense urban areas move more frequently – minorities, young people, singles, and divorced people move at above-average rates as well. Almost one in three renters moved compared to one in 11 homeowners over the course of the study and Households that have co-habitants with different last names or new roommates can have their mail withheld if the addressee is “unknown to the delivery employee.”
