During the Civil War, the future of the country was at stake, and a significant portion of eligible voters (white men 21 years old and older) had taken up arms. Most could not return to their home states to cast their ballots. The 1864 presidential election was the first time absentee voting was exercised at scale: Approximately 7.5 percent of the total vote was cast from the field or by proxy.
When American military personnel were deployed across Europe, the Pacific and the United States in World War II, official war ballots were shipped around the globe and back. Included in the museum’s collection is a 1944 ballot from an Army nurse; many of the women serving had gained the right to vote within their lifetimes.
