Is voter fraud a problem in the US?
No, voter fraud is not a significant or widespread problem in U.S. elections. It occurs in isolated cases but at extremely low rates that do not affect outcomes of major races, according to data from conservative, liberal, and nonpartisan sources, as well as election officials and investigations.[1]
Scale of Documented Fraud
The Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) maintains the most prominent database of proven election fraud cases (convictions, civil penalties, judicial or official findings). As of late 2025 updates, it lists roughly 1,500–1,619 instances spanning decades (often back to the 1980s or earlier), across all 50 states and including local, state, and federal elections. Many involve single individuals (e.g., double voting, false registration, voting while ineligible as a felon, or absentee ballot misuse). It is explicitly a “sampling,” not exhaustive, and Heritage uses it to highlight vulnerabilities and argue for tighter rules.[2]
Even taking this at face value:
Other studies align:
2020 and Recent Elections
Claims of systemic fraud in 2020 (and similar rhetoric around later cycles) have been repeatedly examined and rejected:
Similar patterns hold for 2022/2024: state investigations (e.g., Nevada) find tiny numbers of referred cases relative to ballots, with most complaints unsubstantiated. Isolated prosecutions continue (double voting, registration issues, rare noncitizen cases), but nothing systemic.[9]
Types, Causes, and Context
Common forms include double voting (sometimes cross-state or absentee + in-person), voting by ineligibles (felons in restricted states, rare noncitizens or deceased via outdated rolls), registration fraud (often by paid canvassers padding numbers, not leading to votes), and occasional ballot harvesting or absentee misuse. Organized, large-scale schemes capable of flipping federal races are essentially absent in modern data.
Reasons for low rates include:
Errors (clerical, outdated rolls with deceased or movers) are more common than intentional fraud and are routinely cleaned. Some registration drives have produced invalid forms, but these rarely translate to illegal votes.
Perception vs. Reality
Public concern is higher among some groups (e.g., polls show partisan gaps), fueled by high-profile claims, social media amplification of isolated incidents or administrative glitches, and distrust. However, extensive research, official certifications, and court records consistently show fraud does not threaten the integrity of U.S. elections at scale. Safeguards can and should continue improving (list maintenance, ID options, audits), and every case should be prosecuted, but restrictions that broadly suppress eligible voting are not justified by the data on fraud volume.[10]
In short: Voter fraud is real in the sense that individual crimes happen (as with any large system involving millions of people), but it is not a meaningful “problem” that undermines election results or requires treating the system as fundamentally broken. U.S. elections are highly secure by multiple independent measures.
Citations (10)
- https://www.newsweek.com/voter-fraud-us-elections-data-research-1978342
Backs: “It occurs in isolated cases but at extremely low rates that do not affect outcomes of major races, according to data from conservative, liberal, and nonpartisan sources, as well as election officials and investigations.”
- https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-releases-updated-election-fraud-database-featuring-new-fraud-map
Backs: “It is explicitly a “sampling,” not exhaustive, and Heritage uses it to highlight vulnerabilities and argue for tighter rules.”
- https://www.truthbased.org/voter-fraud
Backs: “Against hundreds of millions to over a billion ballots cast in relevant periods (presidential elections alone since 2000 exceed 900 million), the rate is on the order of 0.0001% or lower (roughly a few cases per 10 million ballots).”
- https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-widespread-is-election-fraud-in-the-united-states-not-very/
Backs: “Pennsylvania over ~30 years/>100 million ballots: ~39 cases) show minuscule percentages (e.g., 0.0000845% in Arizona) and no altered outcomes.”
- https://www.brennancenter.org/topics/voting-elections/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud
Backs: “Noncitizen voting is “vanishingly rare” (e.g., ~0.0001% in a multi-jurisdiction 2016 study).”
- https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/absentee-ballot-fraud-heritage/
Backs: “Absentee/mail ballot fraud convictions are also rare (Heritage has tracked ~140+ over multi-decade periods).”
- https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-pennsylvania-arizona-nevada-wisconsin-de171efb89404a8bdefb6fb83a0b4ad1
Backs: “Biden’s combined margin was >311,000; the cases (often not even counted or bipartisan in nature) were nowhere near enough to matter, with no evidence of collusion.”
- https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-20-million-missing-votes-election-2024-5c92a9b2530232fc8ac80968a1362518
Backs: “Republican and Democratic election officials nationwide reported no widespread issues.”
- https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/nevada-secretary-state-announces-evidence-widespread-voter-fraud/story?id=109268108
Backs: “Isolated prosecutions continue (double voting, registration issues, rare noncitizen cases), but nothing systemic.”
- https://www.brookings.edu/articles/widespread-election-fraud-claims-by-republicans-dont-match-the-evidence/
Backs: “Safeguards can and should continue improving (list maintenance, ID options, audits), and every case should be prosecuted, but restrictions that broadly suppress eligible voting are not justified by the data on fraud volume.”