Americans believe in the consent of the governed and the right of every citizen 18 years of age and older to vote. More recently, many Americans have come to believe in the right to vote by mail.

Five states, including Colorado and Utah, have allowed all citizens to vote by mail in recent years. Just about every state allows ill or absent citizens, such as military or diplomats, to send in their votes by mail. Some states, such as Nebraska, permit voting by mail in rural counties where the drive to get to a polling place is considered a hardship.

States such as Arizona and California permit what is called “no excuse” requests for absentee ballots. No reason need be given to get a mail-in ballot. These states have seen a marked increase in the number of voters preferring this method of voting.

Most election officials in most states predict we will see more voters voting by mail in 2020 than ever before. Journalist Ron Brownstein notes that six key “swing states” – Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina – already permit their citizens to vote by mail for any reason.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 58 percent of Americans favor mail-in voting. An even higher percentage, 67 percent, support holding the coming Nov. 3 presidential election by mail-in ballot because of the tragic Coronavirus pandemic that has hit the nation. Packing into traditional polling places, where the virus can spread, is a risk many Americans would like to avoid this year.

There is a political party divide on this. Eighty-two percent of Democrats back voting by mail as a permanent change, as do 61 percent of independent voters. Only 31 percent of Republicans, however, support it.

President Trump has slammed this reform as “crazy” and “very dangerous.” “Republicans,” he warned, “should fight very hard when it comes to this [reform].” He even predicted that, if voting by mail was nationalized, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Presumably, Trump was referring to presidential elections.

Republican legislators in the South have echoed Trump’s concerns, saying “this will certainly drive up turnout. And that will be extremely devastating to Republicans [down here].”

Voting by mail is most strongly endorsed by those who consider themselves “very liberal” and most strongly opposed by those who identify as “very conservative.” It is favored by a majority in nearly every state, with Alabama and Mississippi being the exceptions.

Democrats generally believe voting by mail is more convenient for those who work two jobs, are handicapped or whose work makes it difficult to spend time waiting in line to vote. Republicans who are supportive of voting by mail note that Republican candidates are typically favored by older voters, who tend to be more conservative and who would take advantage of voting by mail. Texas, for example, provides “no excuse” absentee ballots for anyone over the age of 65.

Yet many Republicans, as well as some others, worry about election integrity. They worry about election fraud. One source of fraud is “vote-harvesting,” when an operative “harvests” votes from people who do not plan to vote themselves. This has happened on rare occasions in place like North Carolina and Miami. The fear is that this would be all too easy in retirement homes.

Election officials in Washington state and Colorado – where every election is vote-by mail – say that voter fraud is exceedingly rare. The Economist concluded that more Americans were killed by lightning than participated in absentee voter fraud in recent years.

Will this November’s presidential election be conducted by voting by mail procedures? Unlikely. In addition to Republican opposition, there would be prohibitive start-up costs for those states with little or no experience with voting by mail. Some people have mistakenly called on Congress to enact this change not realizing that in our federal system elections are run by states and counties.

Here are the key questions:

Q. Which state does the best job of protecting mail-in voting integrity? Colorado and Washington are thought to be the states with the best practices. Colorado, for example, has a sophisticated signature verification program where every signature on a mail-in ballot is verified against signatures that have been obtained earlier, for example, when we obtain our drivers licenses or register to vote. Bipartisan inspectors examine cases in dispute, and some voters are contacted to verify the accuracy of their ballot.

Election administrators emphasize the importance of having up-to-date and accurate voter registration records. Colorado mails postcards to voters before elections and makes judgments about not mailing ballots to addresses where the postcards are returned as undeliverable.

Q. Does voting by mail increase turnout and advantage one party over the other? Voting by mail modestly increases voter turnout. Researchers find it increases turnout more in local and primary elections than in more highly publicized national elections.

Many studies conclude there is no significant advantage to one party over another. In a recent election in Wisconsin, however, voters who voted early or by absentee ballot seemed to lean toward Democrats. Some researchers believe that, while older voters are more comfortable voting by mail, minorities are less inclined to do so.

Q. What about internet voting? Internet voting is already permitted in some circumstances. For example, overseas military personnel are encouraged to vote by internet. These voters may have to provide photo ID or selfie photos for verification.

The National Cybersecurity Center, located in Colorado Springs, has been collaborating with several states and counties to help make internet voting secure for overseas and disabled voters. They recently helped King County (Seattle) conduct a special district issue referendum by internet.

Forrest Senti, an executive at the Cybersecurity Center, agrees that no voting method is completely without flaws. Yet voting by internet, he notes, is becoming increasingly more secure and does increase voter participation.

Most of us do business over the internet. We deal with banks and manage investments. Recent months have seen a surge in Zoom conferences, telemedicine and internet shopping. Much of the census has been conducted online. Yet internet voting is likely to evolve slowly, and only as one of several options, including voting by mail. There are still issues of malware infections and possible cyber interventions.

Coloradans should be proud to live in one of the early states that pioneered the process of voting by mail. Several other states are regularly calling state elections officials in Denver asking for counsel as those states are preparing for significantly increased voting by mail. Kudos to county election officials all over our state for implementing our widely praised voting by mail system. It has been impressive that there has been virtually no partisanship in how our voting by mail process has been administered in Colorado.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy were longtime political science professors at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. They regularly write about Colorado and politics and are co-authors of, “Colorado Politics and Policy: Governing a Purple State.”