Is voter fraud a problem in the US?
I'll search for current, factual information on this topic to give you an accurate, evidence-based answer.## Short answer: No, not in any statistically meaningful sense — but it's not zero, and it remains politically contentious
Multiple independent studies, using very different methodologies, consistently find that voter fraud in the U.S. is exceptionally rare:
The numbers are tiny across the board
A comprehensive 2014 study published in The Washington Post found 31 credible instances of impersonation fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of more than 1 billion ballots cast. Even conservative-leaning sources produce similarly small figures — in Arizona, Heritage had to go back 25 years, over which there were 36 elections held and 42,626,379 ballots cast, in order to come up with 36 cases of fraud, a minuscule .0000845%, and no election outcome was altered by ballot fraud throughout that time period. Similarly, in Pennsylvania, Heritage data goes back 30 years and covers 32 elections with over 100 million votes cast and found only 39 cases of voter fraud.
A federal investigation found the same thing. A specialized United States Department of Justice unit formed with the goal of finding instances of federal election fraud examined the 2002 and 2004 federal elections, and were able to prove that 0.00000013 percent of ballots cast were fraudulent.
No outcomes have been changed. Analysis of federal election cycles found 705 fraudulent ballots across 13 federal cycles — about one fraudulent ballot per 2.1 million ballots cast, roughly 1.7× less likely than being struck by lightning in a given year. Even the worst documented case — the 2018 Bladen County absentee-ballot scheme that voided North Carolina's 9th congressional district race — involved a few hundred ballots in one county, nowhere near enough to alter a presidential outcome.
Specific fraud types are essentially non-existent. On non-citizen voting specifically, a 2014 paper concluded that "the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0." Recent enforcement efforts confirm this: a ProPublica investigation of DOJ data found that between January 2025 and May 2026, 41 alleged noncitizen voters were charged, out of more than 150 million people who voted in the 2024 presidential election.
It does still happen occasionally — just not at scale. Real cases do get prosecuted each year. For example, in Iowa, Kim Phuong Taylor illegally filled out or submitted voter registrations and absentee ballots and was convicted in 2024 of 52 counts of voter fraud, and in 2025 federal prosecutors brought several small-scale noncitizen voting cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. One notable systemic incident occurred in New Jersey, where a software error at the state Motor Vehicle Commission caused around 6,600 noncitizens to be wrongly registered to vote, and almost 400 went on to illegally cast ballots — an administrative error rather than intentional fraud.
The gap between public perception and evidence is large. Despite the data, Pew Research found in 2022 that 40% of Americans believed voter fraud changed the 2020 election result. Fact-checking organizations have found that most specific fraud claims don't hold up: the Associated Press found 92% of 2020 election fraud claims had no evidence.
Bottom line
Voter fraud exists but is not a systemic problem — it's measured in single-digit or low-double-digit incidents per election relative to tens or hundreds of millions of ballots cast, and no U.S. election outcome has been shown to be altered by it. That said, the topic remains a significant point of political contention, with some officials and advocacy groups arguing current data undercounts the problem or that stricter safeguards (like voter ID or citizenship verification) are still warranted as a precaution, even absent evidence of widespread fraud.
Citations (13)
- Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth | Brennan Center for Justice
Source excerpt: “A comprehensive 2014 study published in The Washington Post found 31 credible instances of impersonation fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of more than 1 b...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: A 2014 Washington Post study found 31 credible impersonation fraud instances from 2000 to 2014 out of over 1 billion ballots.
- how widespread is election fraud in the united states not very
Source excerpt: “REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Looking at the seven closest states, we find for instance that in Arizona, Heritage had to go back 25 years, over which there...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: In Arizona, Heritage had to go back 25 years to find 36 fraud cases among 42.6 million ballots.
- how widespread is election fraud in the united states not very
Source excerpt: “Not very October 28, 2024 • In the highly contested state of Pennsylvania, Heritage data goes back 30 years and covers 32 elections with over 100...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: In Pennsylvania, Heritage data covers 30 years and over 100 million votes but found only 39 fraud cases.
- Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth | Brennan Center for Justice
Source excerpt: “A specialized United States Department of Justice unit formed with the goal of finding instances of federal election fraud examined the 2002 and 2004 ...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: A DOJ unit examining the 2002 and 2004 federal elections proved 0.00000013 percent of ballots were fraudulent.
- US Voter Fraud Cases, 2000–2024 — Interactive Map
Source excerpt: “705 fraudulent ballots across 13 federal cycles. That's about one fraudulent ballot per 2.1 million ballots cast — roughly 1.7× less likely than being...”
statistic, data page, points to no. Claim: 705 fraudulent ballots across 13 federal cycles, about one per 2.1 million ballots cast.
- US Voter Fraud Cases, 2000–2024 — Interactive Map
Source excerpt: “Even the largest single concentrated event in the entire 24-year window — the 2018 Bladen County absentee-ballot scheme that voided North Carolina's 9...”
evidence, data page, points to no. Claim: The 2018 Bladen County absentee-ballot scheme was the largest concentrated event, involving a few hundred ballots in one county.
- Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth | Brennan Center for Justice
Source excerpt: “· A 2014 paper concluded that “the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0.” ”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: A 2014 paper concluded the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0.
- Aggressive DHS hunt for voter fraud only finding a handful of possible noncitizen cases
Source excerpt: “According to a ProPublica investigation of data from the Department of Justice, between January 2025 and May 2026, 41 alleged non-itizen voters were c...”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: ProPublica found 41 alleged noncitizen voters charged between January 2025 and May 2026.
- Aggressive DHS hunt for voter fraud only finding a handful of possible noncitizen cases
Source excerpt: “More than 150 million people voted in the 2024 presidential election and more than 112 million ballots were cast in the last midterm election. ”
statistic, article, points to no. Claim: More than 150 million people voted in the 2024 presidential election, making 41 charged cases tiny by comparison.
- List of cases of electoral fraud in the United States - Wikipedia
Source excerpt: “In the 2020 Iowa elections, Kim Phuong Taylor, wife of Republican Iowa congressional candidate Jeremy Taylor, illegally filled out or submitted voter ...”
evidence, reference entry, neutral. Claim: Kim Phuong Taylor in Iowa illegally filled out or submitted registrations and absentee ballots and was convicted of 52 counts.
- List of cases of electoral fraud in the United States - Wikipedia
Source excerpt: “In 2022, former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway set up a fraudulent scheme to illegally harvest and submit mail-in ballots on Between...”
evidence, reference entry, neutral. Claim: Real small-scale cases are prosecuted, including mail-in ballot schemes such as Atlantic City's in New Jersey.
- Voter Fraud: 2026 Verified Stats
Source excerpt: “... Pew Research found in 2022 that 40% of Americans believed voter fraud changed the 2020 election result. ”
statistic, data page, points to no. Claim: Pew Research found in 2022 that 40% of Americans believed voter fraud changed the 2020 election result.
- Voter Fraud: 2026 Verified Stats
Source excerpt: “... Across multiple major fact checks and election-law reviews, the pattern is clear that false voter fraud claims were repeatedly debunked at very ...”
evidence, data page, points to no. Claim: Fact checks found most specific fraud claims don't hold up, including 92% of 2020 claims lacking evidence.