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Absentee/mail-in ballot vote fraud
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Absentee/mail-in ballot vote fraud occurs when an individual commits electoral fraud via absentee or mail-in ballot. Examples include attempting to vote more than once, attempting to vote using the name of another person, and attempting to vote while being knowingly ineligible to do so.
There is debate surrounding the extent to which this and other forms of voter fraud occur. Two sides are presented here. John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky—with The Heritage Foundation, which describes itself as a conservative think tank—wrote that "the media aren’t doing our democracy any favors by summarily dismissing the existence of voter fraud – like the almost 1,200 proven cases in the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database – while questioning the very need for accurate voter rolls."[1][2] According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy institute which describes itself as progressive, "The consensus from credible research and investigation is that the rate of illegal voting is extremely rare, and the incidence of certain types of fraud – such as impersonating another voter – is virtually nonexistent."[3][4]
This and other pages on Ballotpedia cover types of election and voter fraud for which there are documented cases and around which there is debate concerning the frequency of instances and proposed responses.
Relevant research
Brennan Center for Justice
The Brennan Center for Justice released a report in 2007 by Justin Levitt that argued voter fraud, including fraudulent absentee/mail-in voting, is uncommon. The report stated that most instances of suspected fraud result from clerical errors, accidental voter errors, typographical errors, and faulty assumptions regarding the underlying data and lists. According to the report, "By any measure, voter fraud is extraordinarily rare. In part, this is because fraud by individual voters is a singularly foolish and ineffective way to attempt to win an election. Each act of voter fraud in connection with a federal election risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, in addition to any state penalties. In return, it yields at most one incremental vote. ... Instead, much evidence that purports to reveal voter fraud can be traced to causes far more logical than fraud by voters."[5]
Government Accountability Office
In 2006, the United States Election Assistance Commission interviewed experts and conducted a literature review of studies into voter fraud. The report stated the following: "These interviews in large part confirmed the conclusions that were gleaned from the articles, reports and books that were analyzed. For example, the interviewees largely agreed that absentee balloting is subject to the greatest proportion of fraudulent acts, followed by vote buying and voter registration fraud."[6][7]
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation's Voter Fraud Database contained, as of December 2019, 239 cases since 1997 in which one or more individuals were found to have committed voter fraud using an absentee/mail-in ballot. Heritage states that its database contains a sampling of "election fraud cases from across the country, broken down by state, where individuals were either convicted of vote fraud, or where a judge overturned the results of an election."[8]
Case studies
This section provides a sample of two cases in which someone was convicted of absentee/mail-in voting fraud in 2014.
- In 2014, Robert Lee Youngblood, a county board of education candidate in Randolph, North Carolina, submitted an absentee/mail-in ballot in the primary election for the seat. On the first day of early voting, he submitted a duplicate ballot at the polls. He pleaded guilty to charges of voter fraud and was sentenced to two days in jail, followed by 18 months of unsupervised probation. Youngblood was fined $750.[9]
- In 2014, Verna Roehm, a North Carolina woman, pleaded guilty to absentee/mail-in ballot fraud. During a post-election audit of 2012 results, officials discovered that she had cast a mail-in ballot using the name of her deceased husband. Roehm said her late husband's final wish was to vote for Mitt Romney in the presidential election. Although she was initially charged with a felony, the judge convicted her of a misdemeanor "due to the unusual circumstances of the case." Roehm did not receive jail time for the violation.[10]
Related policy issues
Ballotpedia examines related issues and the debates surrounding them on the following pages:
- Arguments for and against no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting
- Mail ballot collection and return laws by state
- Arguments for and against restricting who may return mail ballots
See also
- Electoral fraud
- Absentee/mail-in voting
- Election governance by state
- Voting and election governance: Support and opposition topics
- Voting rights for convicted felons
- Voter identification laws by state
- Mail ballot collection and return laws by state
- Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States
External links
- "Get Your Absentee Ballot Now!" provided by Long Distance Voter
- Overseas Vote Foundation
- Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)
- No Vote By Mail Project
Further reading
- Coleman, Kevin J. (2014) "The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Overview and Issues" by the Congressional Research Service
- "Historical Absentee Ballot Use in California" by the California Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Footnotes
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "Voter Fraud Exists – Even Though Many in the Media Claim It Doesn’t," October 29, 2018
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "About Heritage," accessed February 10, 2020
- ↑ The Brennan Center, "Resources on Voter Fraud Claims," June 26, 2017
- ↑ The Brennan Center, "Progressive Groups Oppose White House Prison Reform Bill," April 18, 2018
- ↑ The Brennan Center for Justice, "The Truth About Voter Fraud," 2007
- ↑ The Government Accountability Office wrote the following about the study's methodology: "To begin our study of voting fraud and voter intimidation, EAC consultants reviewed the current body of information on voting fraud and voter intimidation. The information available about these issues comes largely from a very limited body of reports, articles, and books. There are volumes of case law and statutes in the various states that also impact our understanding of what actions or inactions are legally considered fraud or intimidation. Last, there is anecdotal information available through media reports and interviews with persons who have administered elections, prosecuted fraud, and studied these problems. All of these resources were used by EAC consultants to provide an introductory look at the available knowledge of voting fraud and voter intimidation. "
- ↑ "Election Crimes: An Initial Review and Recommendations for Future Study" by the United States Election Assistance Commission (2006)
- ↑ Ballotpedia searched the database for the term "absentee."
- ↑ The Courier-Tribune, "Youngblood pleads to lesser charge of attempted voter fraud," accessed December 19, 2019
- ↑ WSOCTV, "Woman charged for fulfilling husband's dying wish of voting," accessed December 19, 2019
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