© 2026 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Bronco Giving Day

How the Civil War shaped voting by mail 

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)
/
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.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.