Is voter fraud a problem in the US?

Voter fraud is widely debated — I'll check the latest research and data on how common it really is in the US.

In the US voter fraud exists, but research finds it is extremely rare and not at a scale that affects national election outcomes.

What counts as voter fraud

Voter fraud happens when someone knowingly casts a ballot illegally - including voting as a non-citizen, in the name of a dead person, while pretending to be a registered voter under someone else's name, more than once or in multiple places, on behalf of someone else, or after tampering with ballots or voting systems. Researchers distinguish this from administrative errors, such as submitting a mail ballot without a signature, which is an error not fraud.

What research shows about how common it is

Evidence compiled by social scientists, independent observers and government officials, and detailed in court rulings, shows documented instances of voter fraud are exceedingly rare.

Research dating back for decades shows that documented instances of voter fraud are exceedingly rare, including in three of the categories the Trump administration has been targeting: noncitizen voting, potential interference with voting machines, and fraud related to voting by mail.

Key findings:

More broadly, reviews conclude:

> There is no evidence for widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, including in recent national elections.

Legal challenges after the 2020 election also reflect this: More than 60 lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign claimed election fraud. Nearly all were either dismissed due to a lack of evidence or dropped as meritless.

What fraud databases show

The conservative Heritage Foundation maintains an Election Fraud Map and has tracked "proven election fraud" since 1982.

Even if one takes the Heritage Foundation's data at face value, it reports a total of only 1,619 "proven instances of voter fraud" from 1982 through December 12, 2025. The numbers are for all U.S. states and encompass a period of 43 years. Researchers for the Brennan Center for Justice have called the Heritage Foundation's data "grossly exaggerated and devoid of context".

A breakdown for recent federal election years in that database shows:

2016 71, 2018 87, 2020 31, 2022 94, 2024 42 total proven instances across all subcategories.

Since 2020, according to analysis of the Heritage database:

State-level audits find similarly small numbers relative to total turnout:

Investigations often reduce initial claims dramatically. For example, Texas flagged 2,724 voters as potential non-citizens, but after investigation the state announced that 578 of the people on the list had "demonstrated" they were actually U.S. citizens.

Why some still see it as a problem

While rates are infinitesimal, proponents of stricter controls argue that even small numbers matter in close races and that vulnerabilities should be closed preventatively. They point to the hundreds of proven cases over decades as evidence the system is "broken, porous, and needs to be enhanced" and support laws like the SAVE America Act requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote.

Opponents argue noncitizen voting is already exceedingly rare and a federal crime, and that requiring documentary proof of citizenship would create obstacles for millions of eligible voters.

Bottom line

The scholarly consensus, based on decades of studies, state audits, and court records, is that voter fraud in the US is real but exceedingly rare - typically measured in hundredths to millionths of a percent of votes cast - and has not been shown to occur at a level that would change statewide or national outcomes. Isolated cases of fraud - including noncitizen voting, double voting, and impersonation - do occur and are prosecuted, but they remain minuscule compared to the hundreds of millions of ballots cast.