© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

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
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.