Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

I'll examine current evidence and research on U.S. voter fraud to answer your question.

No, according to most academic studies and government audits, widespread voter fraud is not considered a major systemic problem in U.S. elections, though isolated cases do occur.

What research shows about prevalence

Research consistently finds that voter fraud is rare relative to total votes cast:

•The Brennan Center for Justice review of meticulously studied elections found incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent. A separate Brennan Center summary described most reported incidents as traceable to clerical errors or bad data matching, with incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.

•According to the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), the rate of fraud in voting overall "has been 0.0025%, or 376 ballots out of 14.6 million ballots" cast.

•A Brennan Center examination of 23.5 million votes found roughly 30 suspected incidents of noncitizen voting, about 0.0001 percent, with 40 of 42 jurisdictions reporting none at all.

•Other summaries conclude: "Empirical evidence across decades and multiple methodologies leads to one clear, repeatable conclusion: proven voter fraud is extremely rare relative to the number of votes cast — measured in orders of magnitude of 0.0000X percent — and no rigorous body of research has shown fraud at the scale necessary to flip major U.S. elections".

Extensive audits and investigations have consistently found such cases to be rare and have not demonstrated widespread fraud occurring at a scale that routinely affects election outcomes. There is no evidence for widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, including in recent national elections.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) described the 2020 presidential election as "the most secure in American history", with no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was compromised.

What documented cases exist

Fraud is not zero, and law enforcement does prosecute cases:

•The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, often cited by those concerned about fraud, catalogs roughly 1,561 instances that produced about 1,325 convictions across many decades. Another count describes more than 1,600 documented instances nationwide as of late 2025, including approximately 1,381 criminal convictions.

•An assessment of that database by the Brennan Center found it confirms that voter fraud is vanishingly rare, and that impersonating a voter at the polls is less common than being struck by lightning. The database includes many cases going back decades, with only a handful pertaining to non-citizens voting or impersonation at the polls, adding up to a molecular fraction of the total votes cast nationwide.

•Analysis of the last 30 years found just 73 convictions for noncitizen voting. The Heritage database itself documented only around 24 to 85 instances of noncitizen voting across more than two decades.

On the other hand, federal officials continue to investigate and prosecute. For example, in 2025-2026 the Justice Department announced charges against more than 90 people with voter fraud offenses, including more than 1,600 active investigations.

Types of fraud and vulnerabilities discussed

Common categories tracked include:

•voter/ballot fraud where someone votes more than once, or mails absentee ballots in the names of dead people

•multiple voting and identity/document fraud

•absentee/mail ballot fraud, which analysts note is the most common type among proven cases because ballots are completed outside supervision of election officials and are susceptible to being stolen, altered, forged, and forced

Critics argue mail ballots have vulnerabilities such as ballot harvesting, forgery of signatures, and ballots sent to outdated addresses, while election officials note most mail ballots are cast legitimately and safeguards like signature verification exist.

Bottom line

> "There is no evidence for widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections"

> "I do not believe the available evidence supports the claim that widespread voter fraud is a serious problem", though individual cases should be investigated and prosecuted.

Most scholars and election officials conclude that while limited but real instances occur and justify targeted enforcement and administrative fixes, documented fraud remains extremely rare and has not been shown to occur at levels that would change national election outcomes.

Citations (1)

1brennancenter.orgNonprofits and think tanks
Heritage Fraud Database: An Assessment
Backs: “Another count describes more than 1,600 documented instances nationwide as of late 2025, including approximately 1,381 criminal convictions. An assessment of that database by the Brennan Center found it confirms that voter fraud is vanishingly rare, and that impersonating a voter at the polls is less common than being…”