The 2018 midterm elections are upon us.

In 25 states, service members who qualify under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act can submit their ballots via email or through an online portal.

Approximately 100,000 service members sent in their ballots electronically in 2016, but cybersecurity experts warn that online voting is susceptible to malware attacks and privacy breaches.

America's voter turnout rates are much lower on average than those of other Western democracies, with 60% of eligible voters casting ballots in the 2016 presidential election, and just 36% in the 2014 midterms.

Online voting has been floated as a suggestion to increase turnout by making the voting process much more convenient, literally placing it at the tip of your fingers. In one 2015 poll, 49% of 18-34 year old Americans surveyed said they would be more likely to vote if they would do so online.

While online voting is unavailable for most Americans, some states allow military service members and other select overseas citizens to send in their ballots over email, fax, or in an online voting portal. In 2016, an estimated 100,000 military voters submitted their ballots electronically.

Most online voting rights are reserved for voters that fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Because military personnel are often placed in remote areas without consistent access to mail services, emailing their ballots to their local election authorities or casting votes through a portal is often a more reliable option.

But cybersecurity experts have warned that voting online opens up voters, election officials, and their devices to systemic malware attacks, privacy breaches, and "denial of service" attacks that can disable an entire town's election systems.

"Until there is a major technological breakthrough in or fundamental change to the nature of the internet, the best method for securing elections is a tried-and-true one: mailed paper ballots," the authors of a 2018 report on online voting conclude.

Alaska, which previously had one of the most accessible online voting platforms, suspended online voting in the wake of foreign hacks on US voting infrastructure in the 2016 election. But West Virginia is experimenting with a brand-new mobile app that relies on blockchain technology for service members to submit their votes.

Here are all the states that allow service members to submit ballots online: