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States are working to calm concerns about rare cases of voter fraud.

States are working to calm concerns about rare cases of voter fraud.

State and local officials are working hard to reassure Americans that we will see free and fair elections that are free from fraud.

Concerns about fraud have arisen in many states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania.

A non-citizen has been charged after he allegedly voted over the weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Washtenaw County Attorney Eli Savit said in a joint statement that “noncitizen voting is an extremely isolated and rare event.”

But they continued: “When this happens, we take it extremely seriously. Our elections are secure and Michigan state and local election officials are diligent in following the law.”

Election officials in York County, Pennsylvania, are reviewing several thousand voter registration applications to ensure they are legitimate.

Former President Donald Trump has raised concerns about York County’s voter registration forms.

“Wow! York County, Pennsylvania received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications from a 3rd party group,” Trump said in a social media post. “This is on top of Lancaster County being caught with 2,600 fraudulent bulletins and forms written by the same person. Really bad “things”. WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PENNSYLVANIA Law Enforcement needs to do their job now!!!”

York County election officials said they received a batch of 3,087 voter registration applications last week.

County staff confirmed about half the applications were legitimate and approved them, county officials said Wednesday.

About 30% of applications contained incomplete information. Approval of these applications is pending receipt of additional information from applicants.

About a quarter of the applications were denied and are under further review by the local district attorney. Of the rejected applications, 85% are duplicate registration applications.

Virginia removed from its rolls about 1,600 voters it determined were not citizens.

Noncitizens, including permanent legal residents, are not eligible to vote in federal, state, and most local elections.

Two states, Connecticut and Delaware, allow nonresidents to vote in municipal or city elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ten states allow non-resident voting in elections in certain special districts: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee and Wyoming.

Illegal voting by noncitizens is rare, and a Cato Institute expert wrote in 2020 that the evidence does not support concerns that noncitizens vote enough to actually change the outcome of an election.

Election fraud of any kind is extremely rare.

Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution for governance studies, analyzed the conservative Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database.

She said her analysis found a “minuscule” amount of fraud in US elections.

For example, she wrote that Heritage’s tracker for the swing state of Pennsylvania goes back 30 years, covers 32 elections in which more than 100 million votes were cast, and found only 39 cases of voter fraud.

The percentage of fraudulent votes over three decades in Pennsylvania was 0.0000388%.

The presidential race will come down to what happens in seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

And the Brookings data shows a tiny percentage of fraudulent votes over the years of observation for all seven swing states (ballot numbers are rounded):

Arizona: There have been 26 reported cases of fraud over 25 years among 43 million ballots cast.

Georgia: There have been 23 reported cases of fraud over 27 years among 65 million ballots cast.

Michigan: There have been 19 reported cases of fraud over 17 years among 65 million ballots cast.

Nevada: eight reported cases of fraud in 13 years among 9 million ballots cast

North Carolina: There have been 58 reported cases of fraud over 38 years among 82 million ballots cast.

Pennsylvania: There have been 39 reported cases of fraud over 30 years among 101 million ballots cast.

Wisconsin: There have been 69 cases of fraud reported over 20 years among 45 million ballots cast.

Georgia audited the 2022 election and found that fewer than 1,700 people, believed to be noncitizens, tried to register to vote over the past 25 years, and none were able to vote.

Most Americans believe this election will go well, but there is a significant partisan gap in trust, according to the Pew Research Center.

The poll found that 73% of voters overall and 90% of Vice President Kamala Harris’ supporters expect the election to go well.

But only 57% of Trump supporters feel the same way.

The poll also found Harris supporters are more confident than Trump supporters that once all the votes are counted it will be clear who won (85% vs. 58%) and more confident that mail-in ballots will be counted voters want (85% vs. 38%), are more confident that our elections are secure from hacking (73% vs. 32%) and that ineligible voters will not be able to vote (87% vs. 30% ).

Are Trump supporters too distrustful or are Harris supporters too trusting?

“Trump supporters are too distrustful,” Todd Belt, director of George Washington University’s political management program, told The National News Desk last week. “And the reason I say this is because there is incredibly little actual election fraud going on. It’s just a few votes here and there, and they usually find the one who did it. There are really no big problems with the counting processes. This is done under the control of both sides and you can have a lot of confidence in the counting process.”

Belt said Trump’s rhetoric about a fraudulent election influenced Republican sentiment.

Election laws, of course, vary by state.

According to NCSL, 36 states have laws requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls.

The remaining 14 states and Washington use other methods to verify voter identification, NCSL said.

Below are the ID laws for in-person voting in swing states, according to NCSL.

Arizona: Strict ID without photo. If no ID is presented, the voter votes on a provisional ballot and must return to show ID within five days.

Georgia: Strict photo ID. If ID is not presented, the voter votes on a provisional ballot and must return to show ID within three days.

Michigan: Photo ID requested. If no ID is presented, the voter signs the affidavit and votes on a regular ballot.

Nevada: No documents are required to vote.

North Carolina: Strict photo ID. If identification is not presented, the voter votes on a provisional ballot and must return to show identification by close of business the day before the election.

Pennsylvania: A strict voter ID law was passed in 2012, but it did not take effect because the state Supreme Court struck it down.

Wisconsin: Strict photo ID.

States have other laws aimed at preventing voter fraud.

According to the NCSL, at least 35 states have laws prohibiting tampering with voting systems.

Voting twice is often considered a criminal offense, and 19 states specifically prohibit voting in more than one state.

Eight states prohibit voting twice in a state or for the same office, NCSL reports.

And 35 states and Washington, D.C., prohibit voting twice in the same election.

Grace McCormick of National News Service contributed to this report.