US Presidential Election 2024: Why is it almost impossible for states to commit voter fraud?

Latest update:Oct 28, 2024 05:20 PM IST

Crimes such as voting more than once, tampering with a ballot, lying about where you live, or voting for someone else can be punishable by large fines and jail time. Non-US citizens who violate election laws may be deported

The US election system is designed with multiple layers of security and transparency designed to discourage those who feel motivated to commit fraud. (Getty Images)

Many Americans have mentioned in several polls leading up to Election Day that they fear voter fraud in this year’s presidential election. Much of this concern stems from the fact that former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the US election.

But voter fraud is rare in the United States. And when this happens, he is also caught and brought to justice.

US elections are decentralized, with thousands of independent voting jurisdictions. This makes it virtually impossible to carry out a large-scale voter fraud operation that could affect the presidential race—or almost any other race.

“Research has shown over time that voter fraud is infinitely rare and almost never occurs on a scale that could change the outcome of an election,” said Alice Clapman, senior voting rights counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for expanded voter access. . , quotes NPR.

Why is there no voter fraud in the US?

Crimes such as voting more than once, tampering with a ballot, lying about where you live, or voting for someone else can be punishable by large fines and jail time. Non-US citizens who violate election laws may be subject to deportation.

The US election system is designed with multiple layers of security and transparency designed to discourage those who feel motivated to commit fraud.

People trying to vote on behalf of a recently deceased friend or family member can be caught when election officials update voter rolls with death records and obituaries, said Gail Pellerin, a Democrat in the California Assembly who ran elections in Santa Cruz County to obtain additional information. than 27 years, as mentioned in the Associated Press report.

Those who try to impersonate someone else risk that someone at the polls will recognize that person or that person will later try to vote on their own, she added.

Was there any rare case?

In Ohio, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in 2022 that his office had identified 75 voters who allegedly cast ballots in the state and one other state in 2020. Nearly 6 million ballots were cast in Ohio that year.

LaRose’s office said it has referred a total of 630 cases to prosecutors “over multiple elections,” while noting that “voter fraud remains extremely rare” in the state, according to NPR.

After the 2020 elections Associated Press contacted local election officials in six swing states. In their analysis, they found 475 potential cases of voter fraud, an extremely small percentage of the more than 25 million ballots that were cast in those six states.

What is a voting error?

Voter fraud and voting error are two different phenomena. A voting error involves an ineligible voter who voted “accidentally in good faith in the belief that he was eligible to vote.”

In Florida, 20 former prisoners were arrested on suspicion of voting illegally even though they were issued voter registration cards. There was a famous case in Texas involving a woman named Crystal Mason who said she believed she had the right to vote in 2016.

Since the 2020 election, there have been many claims on social media about dead people voting, voting twice, or destroying stacks of ballots on the side of the road.

Former President Donald Trump promoted and continues to amplify these claims. But the vast majority of them turned out to be untrue.

Former election officials say even more often, allegations of election fraud turn out to be the result of a clerical error or misunderstanding, according to Associated Press.

How do systems prevent illegal voting?

States have a number of mechanisms in place to identify people who are ineligible before they can vote.

According to NPR States are required by law to routinely remove ineligible or deceased voters from their rolls, according to the report. And tools like the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, help states share voter data.

There are also many protections that will keep someone from committing voter fraud. This includes signature matching, mailbox monitoring, and poll worker training.

(via Associated Press)