---

Good design keeps ballot envelopes moving

As election offices across the country are gearing up for the midterms, vote by mail is top of mind. We’ve been refining our tools and resources, and we wanted to share what we know about the thing that makes vote by mail actually work: the envelope.

Envelopes have a lot of work to do 

Mail ballot envelopes have their work cut out for them. 

Think about everything they have to accomplish. 

On the way out to voters, mail ballot envelopes have to reach the right voter, be instantly recognizable as an official ballot, and move cleanly through postal automation systems. On the way back, they have to guide a voter through a high-stakes task and arrive on time, with a ballot inside and the right fields filled in accurately.

Along the way, a mail ballot envelope passes through a lot of hands: mail room staff, mail carriers, postal sorting machines, and then election workers who check, sort, and open them back at the office. Each handoff is a moment where design can either help or complicate the process.

Bringing all of those requirements into a coherent set of envelopes is a design challenge. We’ve worked on vote by mail design in states and counties across the country, and the pattern holds: when the envelope system is designed well for voters and for the postal system ballots get where they need to go.

Anatomy of an envelope: Make sure the basics are right 

Before you get to the design details, there are a set of USPS requirements every vote by mail envelope needs to meet. We highlight these in our USPS guide, but here is a high-level summary. 

• The official election mail logo. Put it on both the outgoing and return envelope. The logo tells voters they’re receiving official, trusted mail and it’s one of the first things that helps a ballot stand out in a stack of other mail. Use the right size for your envelope, and keep it out of the area USPS reserves in the upper right corner for postage.
• Size and weight. Choose an envelope size that qualifies as letter-sized mail under USPS rules. The most common sizes used across the country are 6 x 9″ and 10.5 x 4.5″ — familiar sizes that work well with vendor and USPS machines.
• The Intelligent Mail Barcode. Every envelope needs one, generated for each voter’s unique address. It’s how USPS routes mail accurately and how ballot tracking works for your office and for voters following their ballot through the mail. Be sure to use the special Service Type Identifiers for the return envelope. They mark it as election mail for every USPS scanner! (This is typically something your mailing vendor handles, not something you do manually.)
• The Facing Identification Mark. This small mark on the return envelope tells USPS machines which side is the front, so they can read the barcode and get the ballot where it needs to go.
• Postage. Make sure the return envelope clearly communicates whether postage is pre-paid or required. 

When envelopes are delivered to the post office, a green Tag 191 identifies the entire shipment as election mail, making sure it gets moved into the first steps of the postal process efficiently.

You can find specifics on all this and more in our USPS guide. 

Design for voters and for the USPS 

Your envelope has to do 2 things at once: guide voters through a high-stakes task without any help nearby, and move smoothly through postal automation systems. Good design handles both.

Here are a few specific places where design plays a big role in making all this happen seamlessly:

Color. A wraparound color bar — visible from the front and edges of the envelope — helps voters recognize their ballot in a stack of other mail, and helps election office staff sort envelopes by type at a glance. Use different colors for outgoing and return envelopes. One practical note: avoid green. USPS reserves it for Certified Mail, and using it can slow delivery.

The signature and date fields. These are the most common sources of ballot rejection. In Pennsylvania, a redesign of the declaration envelope — with specific attention to the signature box and date field layout — led to a 62% reduction in ballots rejected for missing dates. Use a clearly defined box for the signature: beyond helping voters, it also makes it easier for the automatic readers that election offices and USPS use to verify signatures. Make sure the date field is prominent and sized correctly.

Checklists. Election offices have shared scans of returned envelopes where voters ticked off every item on a “Did you…” checklist. Checklists work. Put the most important reminders — sign your declaration, include your ballot, check the deadline — directly on the envelope. Leave the detailed instructions for an insert.

Postage. Providing pre-paid return postage increases voter turnout. If voters need to add a stamp, put the instructions below an empty postage box, not inside it — research showed that when instructions appeared inside the box, some voters assumed postage was already included.

Good envelope design keeps ballots moving

When the envelope clearly identifies itself as an official ballot, guides voters through each step, meets all postal requirements, and moves smoothly through automation systems, the whole vote by mail process works better — for voters and for election offices alike.

We’ll keep supporting election officials with clear, voter-centered design. You can find our full vote by mail best practices, including our new USPS guide and envelope templates, on our website. 

Questions? Reach out to hello@civicdesign.org.