Electoral fraud
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Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Electoral fraud can take different forms—including in-person voter fraud, fraudulent activity involving absentee or mail ballots, and voter suppression—and can occur at different points of the election process, from registration to the tallying of ballots.
There is debate surrounding the extent to which various types of electoral fraud occur. John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky—with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank—wrote that "the media aren’t doing our democracy any favors by summarily dismissing the existence of voter fraud – like the almost 1,200 proven cases in the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database – while questioning the very need for accurate voter rolls."[1]
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive law and policy institute, "The consensus from credible research and investigation is that the rate of illegal voting is extremely rare, and the incidence of certain types of fraud – such as impersonating another voter – is virtually nonexistent."[2]
This and other pages on Ballotpedia cover types of electoral fraud for which there are documented cases and around which there is debate concerning the frequency of instances and proposed responses.
Types of electoral fraud
The following list provides examples of different types of alleged electoral fraud:[1][2]
- Ballot stuffing: Casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter.
- Votes cast in the names of deceased people: The name of a deceased person remains on a state's official list of registered voters and a living person fraudulently casts a ballot in that name.
- Felon vote fraud: The casting of a ballot by a person convicted of a felony who is not eligible to vote as a result of the conviction. Voting rights for convicted felons vary by state.
- Voter suppression: A variety of tactics aimed at lowering or suppressing the number of voters who might otherwise vote in a particular election.
- Voter registration fraud: Filling out and submitting a voter registration card for a fictional person, or filling out a voter registration card with the name of a real person but without that person's consent and forging his or her signature on the card.
- Voter impersonation: A person claims to be someone else when casting a vote.
- Vote-buying: Agreements between voters and others to buy and sell votes, such as a candidate paying voters to vote for him or her.
- Fraud by election officials: Manipulation of ballots by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters' names.
- Absentee ballot vote fraud: A person attempts to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot containing false information. For example, this can occur when a person attempts to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot with the name of a false or non-existent voter. The term can extend to manipulation, deception, or intimidation of absentee voters.
Relevant research
Various studies, reports, and investigations have yielded different conclusions regarding the frequency of electoral fraud. Below is a sampling.
Sources concerned about electoral fraud frequency/likelihood
The Heritage Foundation
As of June 2021, the Heritage Foundation's Voter Fraud Database contained what the group identified as 1,328 cases of proven voter fraud and 1,143 criminal convictions. Heritage said the database "presents a sampling of proven instances of election fraud from across the country. This database is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list, but is intended to demonstrate the many ways in which fraud is committed. Preventing, deterring, and prosecuting election fraud is essential to protecting the integrity of our voting process." The group also said that each of the instances in the database "resulted in either a criminal conviction or an overturned election."[3]
The database categorized instances of fraud into the following:
- Altering The Vote Count
- Ballot Petition Fraud
- Buying Votes
- Duplicate Voting
- Election Overturned
- False Registration
- Fraudulent Use Of Absentee Ballots
- Illegal "Assistance" At The Polls
- Impersonation Fraud At The Polls
- Ineligible Voting
- Miscellaneous
New York City Department of Investigation
In 2013, the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) sent 63 people to polls to attempt to vote under ineligible voters' names as part of an investigation. DOI reported that 61 people were able to do so.[4] DOI's website describes the department as "the City's independent Inspector General (IG), with oversight of City agencies and commissions, elected officials, employees, contractors, and those who receive benefits from the City."[5]
The report stated the following about the investigation:
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After receiving an allegation from a former BOE employee that ineligible voters remained on the voter rolls, DOI checked multiple databases at random to generate a list of approximately 175 individuals who had either died, become a convicted felon, or had moved outside the City. Using that list, DOI ascertained that they had each at one time been registered voters in the City. During DOI’s Citywide 2013 Election Day investigative operations, DOI sought to determine whether any of them remained in BOE’s registration books and to test whether investigators using the names of those ineligible individuals would be permitted to vote. DOI found that 63 of the ineligible individuals (or 36%) were still listed as eligible voters in the registration books at poll sites. The majority of those 63 ineligible individuals remained on the rolls nearly two years or longer since a death, felony conviction, or move outside of the City. DOI investigators posed as the 63 ineligible individuals still on the voter rolls and were permitted to obtain, mark, and submit ballots in the scanners or the lever booths in 61 instances (or approximately 97%).2 In five instances, DOI investigators in their twenties and thirties posed as individuals whose ages, as recorded in the registration books, ranged from 82 to 94, and despite the obvious disparity, the investigators were given ballots or access to lever booths without question by the BOE poll workers. BOE personnel explained that ineligible individuals might remain on the rolls pending receipt and verification of various notifications that BOE receives from the New York State Board of Elections (“State BOE”) and other sources, including, for example, verbal reports from voters of changes in residence or from family members about the death of a voter.[6] |
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Sources saying electoral fraud is rare
Justin Levitt, law professor/former Brennan Center counsel
In 2014, Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, published results of his research into in-person voter fraud allegations between 2000 and 2014. Levitt wrote that he found 31 different incidents across the country during this period. He said, "To put this in perspective, the 31 incidents below come in the context of general, primary, special, and municipal elections from 2000 through 2014. In general and primary elections alone, more than 1 billion ballots were cast in that period."[7]
In 2007, Levitt wrote a report with The Brennan Center that included 24 examples of what they called exaggerated "or unfounded allegations of fraud" related to double voting, votes cast under names of deceased people, people ineligible due to felony convictions, and other types of fraud. The report stated that "fraud by individual voters is a singularly foolish and ineffective way to attempt to win an election. Each act of voter fraud in connection with a federal election risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, in addition to any state penalties. In return, it yields at most one incremental vote. That single extra vote is simply not worth the price."[8] The report, which argued against using fraud as a reason to implement voter ID laws, included the following case study summaries:
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Missouri: In some ways, the recent hunt for voter fraud began in Missouri in the 2000 election, the crucible that proved formative for Attorney General John Ashcroft and Senator Kit Bond, among others. Yet despite all the frenzy, the allegations yielded only six substantiated cases of Missouri votes cast by ineligible voters, knowingly or unknowingly, except for those votes permitted by court order. The six cases were double votes by four voters—two across state lines and two within Missouri—amounting to an overall rate of 0.0003%. ... New Jersey: Just before the 2005 election, partisan actors attempted to probe the accuracy of New Jersey’s voter rolls by comparing election records for 2004 with death records and with the rolls of other states. The allegations yielded only eight substantiated cases of individuals knowingly casting invalid votes that counted—eight voters who voted twice. Given the number of votes cast in these elections, this amounts to a rate of 0.0004%. ... Wisconsin: The 2004 election was hotly contested in Wisconsin, and various irregularities led to inflated claims of widespread fraud. The allegations yielded only seven substantiated cases of individuals knowingly casting invalid votes that counted—all persons with felony convictions. This amounts to a rate of 0.0025% within Milwaukee and 0.0002% within the state as a whole. None of these problems could have been resolved by requiring photo ID at the polls.[6] |
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U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman
In 2014, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman found that Wisconsin's voter identification law violated the United States Constitution. In her opinion, Adelman stated that "evidence at trial established that virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin. The defendants could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past." Adelman also said that "the vast majority of these cases—approximately 10 each election—have innocent explanations, such as a poll worker’s placing an indication that a person has voted next to the wrong name in the poll book."[9]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Voter fraud. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Election governance by state
- Voting and election governance: Support and opposition topics
- Voting rights for convicted felons
- Voter identification laws by state
- Mail ballot collection and return laws by state
- Election integrity
- Voter suppression
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Heritage Foundation, "Voter Fraud Exists – Even Though Many in the Media Claim It Doesn’t," October 29, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Brennan Center, "Resources on Voter Fraud Claims," June 26, 2017
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "Voter Fraud," accessed December 18, 2019
- ↑ New York City, "BOE Unit Report 12-30-2013," December 30, 2013
- ↑ New York City, "Inspectors General," accessed December 18, 2019
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Washington Post, "A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast," August 6, 2014
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "The Truth About Voter Fraud," accessed October 30, 2015
- ↑ The Atlantic, "A Federal Judge Searches for Voter Fraud in Wisconsin and Finds None," April 30, 2014
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