Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

Based on extensive research, court cases, and bipartisan investigations, voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare. While isolated instances of illegal voting do occur, there is no evidence of widespread, systemic fraud that could alter the outcome of a major election.

Below is an overview of what the data shows, the common types of fraud discussed, the safeguards in place, and why the issue remains a prominent political topic.

1. What the Data and Studies Show

Numerous studies conducted by academic institutions, journalists, and government agencies have consistently concluded that voter fraud is a minuscule issue in U.S. elections:

•The Brennan Center for Justice: In its seminal report The Truth About Voter Fraud, research found incident rates of voter fraud to be between 0.0003% and 0.0025%. The study noted that a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to impersonate another voter at the polls.

•The Heritage Foundation Database: The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, maintains a database of proven instances of voter fraud. Analysts at the Brookings Institution reviewed this database and found that to amass its list, Heritage had to look back over several decades and hundreds of millions of votes. For example, in Arizona, the database recorded 36 confirmed cases of fraud over 25 years out of 42.6 million ballots cast—a rate of 0.0000845%. In Pennsylvania, there were 39 cases over 30 years out of more than 100 million votes cast (0.0000388%).

•Associated Press 2020 Review: Following allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the Associated Press conducted a review of six battleground states (where over 25 million votes were cast). They found fewer than 475 potential cases of fraud, none of which affected the outcome.

•MIT Election Data and Science Lab: A 20-year study by MIT found that mail-in ballot fraud is "exceedingly rare," occurring in only about 0.00006% of individual votes cast nationally.

2. Common Allegations vs. Reality

When voter fraud is discussed, it generally falls into a few specific categories, which experts have found to be largely self-limiting:

•Voter Impersonation: This is when someone goes to a polling place pretending to be someone else. Political scientists point out that this is mathematically illogical for a bad actor: the risk is incredibly high (felony charges, up to 5 years in prison, massive fines, or deportation for non-citizens), while the payoff is only a single vote added to a pool of millions.

•Non-Citizen Voting: It is a federal crime for non-citizens to register or vote in state and federal elections. Audits by state election officials have consistently found that non-citizen voting is vanishingly rare. For instance, a 2016 audit in North Carolina found that out of 4.8 million votes cast, only 41 were cast by legally admitted non-citizens, none of whom were documented to have voted intentionally to commit fraud.

•Mail-In Ballot Fraud: While mail-in ballots are slightly more vulnerable to mishandling than in-person voting, the actual rate of fraudulent mail-in ballots remains virtually non-existent. States use signature verification, secure barcodes, and tracking systems to prevent duplicate voting.

•Dead Voters: Allegations that "dead people are voting" usually stem from clerical errors, such as a voter passing away after casting an absentee ballot, or a living voter with a similar name (such as a junior or senior) being marked incorrectly on the rolls.

3. Why is Voter Fraud So Rare?

The low rate of voter fraud is not a coincidence; it is due to a multi-layered security system built into U.S. elections:

•Decentralization: Elections are run by thousands of individual counties and municipalities rather than a single federal entity. This makes any coordinated, large-scale hacking or ballot-stuffing scheme nearly impossible to pull off without detection.

•Paper Trails: In modern U.S. elections, nearly 98% of all votes cast have a voter-verifiable paper trail. This allows for manual post-election audits and recounts to verify that voting machines counted the ballots accurately.

•Bipartisan Oversight: Poll workers and observers in almost every jurisdiction represent both major political parties, ensuring that ballot counting is monitored by opposing sides.

4. Why Does the Debate Persist?

If voter fraud is exceptionally rare, why does it remain a dominant topic in American politics?

•To Justify Policy Changes: Proponents of stricter voting laws (such as requiring strict photo IDs, limiting mail-in voting, or conducting aggressive voter roll purges) argue that even one fraudulent vote is too many, and that these rules are necessary to maintain public "voter confidence."

•Concerns of Voter Suppression: Opponents of these laws argue that strict measures are "solutions looking for a problem." They point out that strict ID requirements and restricted mail-in voting disproportionately affect low-income, minority, elderly, and student voters, making it harder for legal citizens to exercise their right to vote.

•Political Rhetoric: Accusations of fraud are often used as a political tool to delegitimize political opponents or cast doubt on election losses.

In summary, while isolated administrative errors and rare individual infractions occur in any system with tens of millions of participants, voter fraud is not a widespread or systemic problem in the United States.

Citations (7)

1brennancenter.orgNonprofits and think tanks
brennancenter.org
Backs: “Based on extensive research, court cases, and bipartisan investigations, voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare.”
2wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
wikipedia.org
Backs: “Based on extensive research, court cases, and bipartisan investigations, voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare.”
3brookings.eduNonprofits and think tanks
brookings.edu
Backs: “Based on extensive research, court cases, and bipartisan investigations, voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare.”
4projectvote.orgNonprofits and think tanks
projectvote.org
Backs: “While isolated instances of illegal voting do occur, there is no evidence of widespread, systemic fraud that could alter the outcome of a major election.”
5americanbar.orgNonprofits and think tanks
americanbar.org
Backs: “Associated Press 2020 Review: Following allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the Associated Press conducted a review of six battleground states (where over 25 million votes were cast). They found fewer than 475 potential cases of fraud, none of which affected the outcome.”
6brennancenter.orgNonprofits and think tanks
brennancenter.org
Backs: “Non-Citizen Voting: It is a federal crime for non-citizens to register or vote in state and federal elections. Audits by state election officials have consistently found that non-citizen voting is vanishingly rare.”
7sistersofmercy.orgNot yet classified
sistersofmercy.org
Backs: “States use signature verification, secure barcodes, and tracking systems to prevent duplicate voting. Dead Voters: Allegations that "dead people are voting" usually stem from clerical errors, such as a voter passing away after casting an absentee ballot, or a living voter with a similar name (such as a junior or…”