Postal voting allows electors to cast ballots by mail instead of visiting a polling station, and it can be available on demand or restricted to those unable to travel—sometimes even being the only method used, known as all-postal voting. Its history dates back to the 19th century, with Australia pioneering federal postal voting in 1902 (first used in 1903), though it was briefly abolished in 1910 over abuse concerns before being restored in 1918. All-postal voting, where every voter automatically receives a ballot, has been used in several US states, Switzerland, the UK's 2004 European Parliament election, and Australia's 2016 marriage law survey. Research from California, Oregon, and Washington shows that postal voting tends to increase voter turnout compared to in-person voting. While electoral laws include checks like signature verification to prevent fraud, coordinated large-scale fraud is considered very rare and difficult to pull off undetected. For instance, at the 2016 Australian federal election, 1.2 million postal votes (8.5% of the total) were cast, highlighting its widespread use.