Over the past few years, we have worked with USPS and state and county-level election officials across the country to develop a flexible template for vote by mail envelopes that is designed for USPS automation, supports good election administration, and works for voters.
These envelope templates are ready to download and free to use. Our goal was to make these envelopes:
When adapting the envelopes to fit your jurisdiction’s needs, stick closely to the template and work with a US Postal Service Mail Design Analyst (MDA) for feedback on your final designs. CCD is also here for you. Contact us at hello@civicdesign.org.
Go to:
Section 1. Planning the envelope design process
Section 2. Redesigning envelopes: small tips for big change
Section 3. Redesigning the envelopes: using the envelope templates
Section 4. Working with the US Postal Service
Section 5. Making it whole: the rest of the vote by mail package
If you are looking for vote by mail materials beyond the envelopes, visit our Toolkit: Scaling up vote by mail
For a vote by mail ballot to be cast and counted, it has to make its way to the voter and then back to the election office safely, passing through many hands along the way. Here are questions to consider at the start of the redesign process, and a list of people to include in conversations.
To plan your envelopes, start with your goals for your revised envelopes. A few questions you may want to answer include:
You may also have an idea about what you need to change based on envelope packages from previous elections. Think about:
Even if you are not ready to adapt the national template, consider making one or two improvements to your current envelopes for the next election. Making small adjustments to your current envelopes can move you towards an envelope that voters can use more effectively by following plain language and design best practices.
Consider starting this process by doing a little research. Reach out to the different people who interact with your envelopes. Ask them problems they’ve had in the past or what they found confusing.
Section 02
Not every office can take on a big envelope change right now. That’s ok! This section recommends small changes that can make a big impact. In this section, we’ll review a few best practices and small adjustments that can help you improve your current envelopes.
The signature and related information is the most important part of the information for the voter
We have designed a palette of colors that coordinate well and meet accessibility contrast requirements.
The different colors indicate different types of envelopes:
On the vote at home envelope templates you’ll notice the color bar that wraps from the front of the envelope to the back. We use this feature to help sort envelopes and build recognition. All outgoing envelopes use a blue color. This helps USPS and voters instantly recognize that this is a ballot.
For the return envelope, we suggest that you coordinate with surrounding counties to use different colors. This way USPS or election officers can quickly recognize if return envelopes end up in the wrong office, get those ballots where they need to go.
Some states have stringent requirements for what the language included in the voter’s declaration says or how it appears. Other states have more flexibility to introduce simpler language.
Even if you can’t change the words, you can still make it easier to read. Try adding bullets to make each thing the voter is declaring easier to read, without changing the words.
Read more about writing checklists.
In California, we tested a set of instructions with voters to make sure they could follow the instructions on the envelopes. Those instructions are included in the vote by mail template in the next section. You can adapt the information for your current envelopes.
Some states list notes or instructions that must be included on the envelope. You can always supplement these requirements with more informative or detailed instructions.
The illustrations and icons are all available in the civic icons and images library on ElectionTools in a variety of formats, including Illustrator.
After opening the outgoing envelope, voters might recycle it, so make sure the information voters need is in the right place:
Read Field Guide 2: Writing instructions that voters understand
Section 03
To help you build your envelope, we have a set of templates for different envelope sizes. The templates include sample content you can edit for your own jurisdiction. Both sizes have an exposed signature and two language options. We’re here to help if you want to adapt these to fit your jurisdiction’s printing and language requirements.
If you are planning to do round-trip tracking using the USPS Intelligent Mail Bar Code, contact us for templates at hello@civicdesign.org.
The downloads include a PDF, with images of the layouts and instructions, and the editable files in InDesign format, with all fonts and illustrations used in it. You need InDesign, a popular layout program, to customize the layouts.
If you need other images or want the same images in other formats, they are all available in the civic icons and images library on ElectionTools.
The template files include:
Section 04
One of the most important jobs vote-by-mail envelopes have to do is help the US Postal Service get the to voters and back again. To design the templates, we worked with USPS and election experts to make sure the templates meet requirements and can move through the mail system.
Even if you have worked with mail-in ballot envelopes before, take a few minutes to review what information and postal elements goes on the envelopes, including use the Election Mail logo.
How to design VBM envelopes for USPS: an overview of navigating USPS, including rules, best practices, and links to more information.
Mail Design Analysts (MDA) are USPS employees who provide feedback or answer questions at any stage in the envelope design process.
USPS is your partner in this project and it helps to keep them in the loop. In Michigan, local USPS offices received a flyer that introduced them to the new vote by mail envelopes. This way the folks who carry the envelopes know what to watch out for and can help get envelopes where they need to go.
The USPS team would like to collect as many versions of ballot envelopes as they can. As they told us, visual examination is a first start, but processing an actual ballot package is the best way to get ahead of any problems.
Alfred Makonnen
USPS Engineering – SST
8403 Lee Highway
Merrifield, VA 22082-8101
Report any problems to electionmail.org. Problem reports are read, taken seriously, and resolved as quickly as possible.
The envelope is just one component of the vote by mail package. Common materials included in the vote by mail package include secrecy envelopes, insert, or voter guides. These are great opportunities to provide additional or more detailed information than what you have space for on the envelope.
Find samples, templates, and best practices for all of your vote by mail materials in our toolkit.