Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

Based on an overwhelming consensus of election officials, legal scholars, and statistical studies, voter fraud is vanishingly rare in the United States and does not exist at a scale that could influence or alter election outcomes.

While isolated cases of voter fraud do occur, comprehensive investigations by both Democratic and Republican administrations, independent academic institutions, and non-partisan organizations have consistently shown that systemic or widespread election fraud is virtually non-existent.

What the Data and Research Show

Multiple exhaustive studies have analyzed hundreds of millions of ballots cast in U.S. elections over several decades:

1.The Brennan Center for Justice: A landmark study by the Brennan Center reviewed elections across the country and found incident rates of suspected voter fraud to be between 0.0003% and 0.0025%. The study famously concluded that an American is more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit in-person voter impersonation.

2.The Heritage Foundation Database: The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, maintains a database of proven voter fraud cases to argue for stricter voting laws. However, analysis of their database reveals how rare fraud actually is. For example, in the swing state of Pennsylvania, the database lists only 39 cases of voter fraud over a 30-year period out of more than 100 million votes cast (a rate of 0.0000388%). In Arizona, the rate was 0.0000845% over 25 years.

3.The 2020 Election Review: Following claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, an exhaustive review by the Associated Press of more than 25 million votes cast across six battleground states found fewer than 475 potential cases of voter fraud. None of these cases would have altered the outcome of the election, and many involved individuals mistakenly casting ballots or voting on behalf of deceased relatives (often for both major political parties).

4.Court Rulings: Following the 2020 election, more than 60 lawsuits alleging widespread voter fraud were brought in state and federal courts, including before judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans. Virtually all were dismissed due to a complete lack of credible evidence.

Key Areas of Concern and the Facts

Critics of current voting systems frequently raise concerns about specific types of fraud:

•Mail-in/Absentee Ballot Fraud: While security experts agree that mail-in voting is slightly more susceptible to abuse than in-person voting, actual fraud remains exceedingly rare. A 2020 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that mail-in ballot fraud occurs at a rate of roughly 0.00006% nationally. Of 250 million mail-in votes cast between 2000 and 2020, there were only 193 criminal convictions for mail-in fraud.

•Noncitizen Voting: Under federal law, it is a felony for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare because the risks—including heavy fines, prison time, and immediate deportation—far outweigh any incentive to cast a single vote. While occasional administrative errors (such as motor vehicle database glitches) have mistakenly registered noncitizens, audits show that almost none of these individuals actually attempt to vote.

•Voter Impersonation: The idea of an individual showing up at a polling place pretending to be someone else is practically non-existent. A comprehensive study tracking one billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014 found only 31 credible instances of voter impersonation.

Why is Voter Fraud So Rare?

The U.S. election system is highly decentralized, run by thousands of local jurisdictions with built-in, overlapping security measures:

•Paper Trails: Nearly 98% of all votes cast in modern U.S. presidential elections are on paper or have a voter-verifiable paper trail, making digital manipulation easily detectable during audits.

•Bipartisan Oversight: Poll workers, ballot counters, and observers representing both major political parties oversee almost every step of the voting, signature verification, and tabulation processes.

•Pre- and Post-Election Audits: States perform logic and accuracy tests on voting machines before elections and conduct post-election audits to verify that the machines counted paper ballots correctly.

•Severe Penalties: Committing voter fraud is a felony that carries severe penalties, including years in prison and hefty fines.

Public Perception vs. Reality

Despite the overwhelming lack of evidence, a significant portion of the American public believes voter fraud is a major issue. This divide is highly partisan:

•Polls indicate that a majority of Republicans express concern that voter fraud could sway elections, while the vast majority of Democrats and Independents believe the systems are secure.

•Political scientists attribute this gap to persistent political rhetoric, high-profile media narratives, and "election denial" campaigns, rather than any documented shift in election integrity.

Ultimately, while minor administrative errors and isolated, individual infractions occur in every election, there is no evidence of systemic, widespread voter fraud in the United States.

Citations (10)

1projectvote.orgNonprofits and think tanks
projectvote.org
Backs: “Based on an overwhelming consensus of election officials, legal scholars, and statistical studies, voter fraud is vanishingly rare in the United States and does not exist at a scale that could influence or alter election outcomes.”
2brookings.eduNonprofits and think tanks
brookings.edu
Backs: “Based on an overwhelming consensus of election officials, legal scholars, and statistical studies, voter fraud is vanishingly rare in the United States and does not exist at a scale that could influence or alter election outcomes.”
3brennancenter.orgNonprofits and think tanks
brennancenter.org
Backs: “While isolated cases of voter fraud do occur, comprehensive investigations by both Democratic and Republican administrations, independent academic institutions, and non-partisan organizations have consistently shown that systemic or widespread election fraud is virtually non-existent.”
4wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
wikipedia.org
Backs: “The Heritage Foundation Database: The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, maintains a database of proven voter fraud cases to argue for stricter voting laws.”
5americanbar.orgNonprofits and think tanks
americanbar.org
Backs: “The 2020 Election Review: Following claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, an exhaustive review by the Associated Press of more than 25 million votes cast across six battleground states found fewer than 475 potential cases of voter fraud.”
6stanford.eduAcademic
stanford.edu
Backs: “Virtually all were dismissed due to a complete lack of credible evidence.”
7lwv.orgNonprofits and think tanks
lwv.org
Backs: “Of 250 million mail-in votes cast between 2000 and 2020, there were only 193 criminal convictions for mail-in fraud.”
8youtube.comSocial media and video
youtube.com
Backs: “This divide is highly partisan: Polls indicate that a majority of Republicans express concern that voter fraud could sway elections, while the vast majority of Democrats and Independents believe the systems are secure.”
9electioninnovation.orgAcademic
electioninnovation.org
Backs: “This divide is highly partisan: Polls indicate that a majority of Republicans express concern that voter fraud could sway elections, while the vast majority of Democrats and Independents believe the systems are secure.”
10yougov.comCompanies
yougov.com
Backs: “This divide is highly partisan: Polls indicate that a majority of Republicans express concern that voter fraud could sway elections, while the vast majority of Democrats and Independents believe the systems are secure.”