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'If You Can Keep It': The Matter Of Mail-In Voting : 1A It's just not one election that picks the president. It's 51. Every state and Washington D.C. has its own rules and deadlines for voting. And in most states, early voting is already underway.

More than 4 in 10 voters cast their ballots by mail in 2020. That's according to an analysis from MIT's Election Data and Science Lab.

Nearly 4 million mail-in ballots have already been cast in this election. That's only a fraction of the more than 53 million voters have requested so far – about a quarter of all expected voters. And the requests are split evenly between political parties so far. That's according to The New York Times.

We discuss the role mail-in ballots could play in determining the outcome of the election.

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'If You Can Keep It': The Matter Of Mail-In Voting

'If You Can Keep It': The Matter Of Mail-In Voting

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Mail-in ballots in their envelopes await processing at the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorders' mail-in ballot processing center at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California. ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

Mail-in ballots in their envelopes await processing at the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorders' mail-in ballot processing center at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

It's just not one election that picks the president. It's 51. Every state and Washington D.C. has its own rules and deadlines for voting. And in most states, early voting is already underway.

More than 4 in 10 voters cast their ballots by mail in 2020. That's according to an analysis from MIT's Election Data and Science Lab.

Nearly 4 million mail-in ballots have already been cast in this election. That's only a fraction of the more than 53 million voters have requested so far – about a quarter of all expected voters. And the requests are split evenly between political parties so far. That's according to The New York Times.

What role could mail-in ballots play in determining the outcome of the election? And with the postal system under strain, how should we expect mail-in voting to be carried out around the country?

Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.