More than 30 countries worldwide offer their citizens the opportunity to vote using a mail-in ballot. Research carried out by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) shows that of these, 11 countries permit all voters the opportunity to use a mail-in ballot. This runs counter to the false claim that U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on March 29, 2026 that the United States is the “only country in the world that has mail-in ballots”.
In addition to the United States, the group of countries that allows all voters to cast their ballot by mail includes Canada, Germany, Iceland, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the case of the U.S., 28 states allow all voters to vote by mail, while the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington conduct all-mail elections. In these eight states, voting is conducted primarily by mail and all eligible voters receive a ballot by default.
As the following chart shows, a further 20 countries permit limited groups of voters to cast their ballots by mail. Among these are Australia, India, Ireland, Japan and Spain.
