How the Civil War shaped voting by mail

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published March 4, 2026 at 11:59 AM EST

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Voting by mail became a major political flashpoint during the COVID-19 pandemic, but controversies over voting remotely aren’t new. During the American Civil War, tens of thousands of soldiers used a simple envelope to cast their ballot from the battlefield.

Dan Piazza from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to tell the story of one of those envelopes.

A stamp used on a mail in voting ballot from the Civil War. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution)

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.