Mail-in Ballots Do Not Lead to Voter Fraud
The Claim
Allowing voters to mail in their ballots rather than voting in person will lead to widespread voter fraud
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Emerging story
Last week, President Trump claimed that allowing U.S. citizens to vote by mail will result in widespread voter fraud, saying that ballots would get stolen from mailboxes, that the signatures of voters could be forged, and that the ballots may be illegally printed. Trump had no supporting evidence to back up this claim.
Misbar’s Analysis
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning to inch its way towards election season, many states are looking to allow voting to take place via mail so that American citizens can cast their vote safely.
While many states already have mail voting measures in place, President Trump claims that mail-in ballots would benefit Democrats and hurt Republicans when it comes time for this year’s election.
"Mail ballots, they cheat. People cheat," Trump said Tuesday, when asked if states should expand absentee voting during the pandemic. "Mail ballots are very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters. They go and collect them. They're fraudulent in many cases.”
A 2005 bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform chaired by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of State James A. Baker III found that “absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
Despite the evidence presented saying that absentee voting leads to potential voter fraud, there is little to no evidence suggesting that it occurs. Last week, Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said that Trump’s claim had “no basis” and that presenting such claims could “undermine the American people’s faith in our democracy.”
Every state across the country allows for certain instances of absentee voting if the voter makes the request before a certain time in the election season. The rules to obtain an absentee ballot vary by state.
Following Trump’s claims about voter fraud, Weintraub cited an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice, which found that "all types of voter fraud in U.S. elections are minuscule in comparison to the number of ballots cast."
While it remains to be seen as to how the 2020 election will unfold, mail voting laws are determined by the specific state in which the election is held. As a result, we rate the claim that allowing U.S. citizens to vote by mail will result in widespread voter fraud as “Misleading”.
In summary, since ballot requirements vary by state, citing that mail-in votes increase voter fraud on a national level is not possible to determine. Furthermore, research shows that all types of voter fraud is minimal when compared to the millions of ballots cast in each U.S. election. Trump’s claim that mail-in voting systems increase the risk of voter fraud has no evidence to support itself.
