Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

Is voter fraud a significant issue in the US? I'll pull the latest research on how often it actually occurs.

Voter fraud does occur in the United States, but research and official reviews consistently find it is very rare.

What the research shows

The consensus cited by the Brennan Center for Justice and other researchers is:

> "Research has been consistent over time that voter fraud is infinitesimally rare and almost never occurs on a scale that would affect an election outcome"

That conclusion has been echoed by courts, government commissions and prosecutorial offices that have looked at the evidence.

Government election security officials have reached similar conclusions for recent federal elections. For example, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) statement on the November 3, 2020 election said: "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history...There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes".

How rare in numbers

Quantitative studies put the rate at fractions of a percent:

A more recent AP analysis after the 2020 election contacted officials in six swing states and found 475 potential voter fraud cases out of more than 25 million ballots cast in those states.

In Ohio, for example, the Secretary of State announced his office had found 75 voters who allegedly cast a ballot in the state and another state in 2020 out of almost 6 million ballots cast there.

Databases documenting proven cases

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, maintains a database of voter fraud cases brought by prosecutors since 1979. As of November 2023, there were 1,465 proven cases listed in 44 years, an average of 33 cases per year. Heritage notes the database is only a "sampling" and not comprehensive.

More recent Heritage updates have put the total at 1,088 proven instances, 1,165 proven cases, and 1,302 cases of proven election fraud in later releases. These cases include impersonation, absentee ballot fraud, duplicate voting, illegal felon voting and non-citizen voting.

Where fraud is more likely to have an impact

Fraud is more likely to occur in and affect the outcome of local elections, where the potential impact of a small number of votes can be greater.

Between 1978 and 2018, at least fourteen elections were invalidated or overturned by courts due to absentee ballot fraud, twelve of which were at the local level.

Experts also note that while quite rare, fraud occurs more often with mailed-in votes than with in-person voting. Illegal voting by noncitizens is described as extremely rare, in part due to severe penalties including deportation and up to five years incarceration.

Why perceptions differ

Public opinion is divided. Polling has found Americans are almost evenly divided on whether people committing voter fraud (26%) or eligible voters being prevented from voting (30%) is a more widespread problem.

Studies also note that the term "fraud" is often used to describe all illegal voting cases even where there was no intent, and cases are often accidental, such as people with prior felony convictions who believed they were eligible.

States have systems designed to prevent illegal voting, including by law being required to routinely remove ineligible or deceased voters from their rolls, and tools like the Electronic Registration Information Center to share data, plus signature matching, drop box surveillance and poll worker training.