Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

NoSays it is contested

I'll look into the latest data on U.S. voter fraud — how often it occurs and what research shows.

In the U.S., voter fraud exists but is not found to be a widespread or systemic problem that affects election outcomes, according to research, government reviews and prosecutions.

> "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,"
> "But voter fraud remains a very rare occurrence across the country."

What the data shows

1. Rates are microscopic:

Studies of in-person impersonation fraud — the type that voter ID laws address — put the rate between 0.0003 and 0.0025 percent of votes.

Other reviews find similar ranges:

•A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study of mail ballots over two decades called mail-in fraud "exceedingly rare" and reported rates on the order of 0.00006 percent of votes nationally

•A Brennan Center examination covering 23.5 million votes found roughly 30 suspected incidents, about 0.0001 percent

Proven cases number in the low thousands across many decades, translating to only a handful per year and an almost negligible share of total votes.

2. Databases of proven cases:

•The conservative Heritage Foundation found just 1,620 cases of election fraud nationwide over more than forty years – an average of only three dozen cases per year across the entire country.

•A national investigation identified 513 proven voter fraud cases since 2016, representing a small fraction of the 685 million votes cast during that period.

3. Recent election audits:

•After claims about the 2020 election, The Associated Press contacted local election officials in six swing states. In their analysis, they found 475 potential voter fraud cases — which amounts to an extraordinarily small percentage of the more than 25 million ballots that were cast in those six states.

•In Ohio, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced his office had found 75 voters who allegedly cast a ballot in the state and another state in 2020. Almost 6 million ballots were cast in Ohio that year.

Federal officials reached the same conclusion for 2020 and 2024:

•The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of the Department of Homeland Security, called the 2020 election "the most secure in American history," stating, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised".

•Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press on Dec. 1, 2020, that "we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election".

Other reviews have similarly stated there is no evidence that widespread fraud occurred in the 2020 or 2024 presidential elections.

Definition

A key distinction is between voter fraud and election fraud. Voter fraud is the intentional deceitful corruption of the election process by voters. All other forms of corruption of the electoral process and corruption committed by elected or election officials, candidates, party organizations, advocacy groups or campaign workers falls under the wider definition of election fraud.

Typical categories include voter impersonation, double voting, voting by noncitizens, false registration, and absentee ballot fraud.

Why fraud is rare

Researchers and election officials point to safeguards:

•States, by law, are required to routinely remove ineligible or deceased voters from their rolls, and use data-sharing tools like the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

•Protections such as signature matching, drop box surveillance, and poll worker training help prevent illegal voting.

•"States have very effective protections in place to prevent and detect voter fraud," and the penalty for voter fraud is enormous.

Perception vs. reality

Concern about voter fraud remains high. Most Americans are concerned about voter fraud in this year's general election according to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

Investigations in states across the political spectrum have yielded very, very small instances of actual prosecutions, leading researchers to describe a big gap between "the rhetoric and the actual reality" of how many instances are identified and referred for prosecution.

Some conservative-leaning groups often lump all cases where the voter thought they were eligible along with cases where someone intended to commit fraud, while many cases that reach court involve ineligible voters who voted "accidentally in good faith, believing that they were eligible".

Bottom line

Isolated cases of voter fraud do occur and are prosecuted — including double voting, voting by noncitizens, and fraudulent registrations — but multiple independent studies, court reviews, state audits, and federal security assessments have consistently found rates far below 0.01% of votes cast, with no evidence that such fraud has altered the outcome of a modern federal election.

Citations (1)

1wuot.orgNot yet classified
How we know voter fraud is very rare in U.S. elections
Backs: “In the U.S., voter fraud exists but is not found to be a widespread or systemic problem that affects election outcomes, according to research, government reviews and prosecutions. "Research has been consistent over time that voter fraud is infinitesimally rare and almost never occurs on a scale that would affect an…”
evidence, article, points to no. Claim: Research consistently finds voter fraud infinitesimally rare and almost never at a scale that would affect an election outcome.