Ballot harvesting

Ballot harvesting is the pejorative name opponents use for the practice in which volunteers, campaign workers or others gather completed absentee or mail ballots from voters and deliver them to election officials. Supporters prefer terms such as "ballot collection" or "community ballot return."

Laws differ widely. Some states bar anyone but a family member or caregiver from returning another person's ballot, some set limits on the number of ballots one person may return and others permit it with few limits. California legalized broader collection in 2016. In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021), the Supreme Court upheld Arizona's restrictions on third-party ballot collection against a Voting Rights Act challenge.

Supporters of tight limits argue that third parties handling ballots create opportunities for coercion, vote-buying, tampering or discarding. They often point to a 2018 North Carolina congressional race, in which an operative's activity led to a new election. Opponents say collection helps people with disabilities, rural voters and those with limited mobility, and that restrictions burden them. Evidence of widespread abuse is limited and disputed. It is part of wider rules on absentee ballot and mail-in voting.