One in five voters who voted by mail during the 2020 presidential election admits to having engaged in at least one type of voter fraud, according to a new survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute.
Specifically, 21% of mail-in voters admitted to filling out a ballot for a friend or family member; 19% of mail-in voters admitted that a friend or family member filled out a ballot on their behalf; 17% of mail-in voters admitted that they voted in a state where they were no longer permanent residents; and 17% of mail-in voters said they signed a ballot for a friend or family member with or without their permission.
Each of these cases constitutes electoral fraud.
Taking just the first example, this means that 21% of all mail-in votes were fraudulent in 2020. It’s important to note that this number was likely much higher because the survey questions were not mutually exclusive. While there is certainly some crossover between categories, some voters committed fraud by filling out a ballot for a friend or family member, while an entirely different subset of voters committed fraud by casting mail-in ballots in a state where they were no longer permanent. residents.
The national survey of 1,085 likely voters was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 6, with a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points and a 95% confidence level.
Using only the most conservative estimate (21%), the number of fraudulent votes remains astronomical. According to electoral data, 43% of 2020 voters voted by mail, by far the largest percentage in American history. Twenty-one percent of that 43% mailing figure comes out to about 9%.
Only 0.80% of all absentee and mail-in votes were rejected in 2020. Clearly, almost all fraudulent votes made it through the enormous sieve of our country’s electoral system.
According to the Cook Political Report, 158,397,726 votes were cast for Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or another candidate in 2020. Taking 9% of this total, that means more than 14 million votes cast in 2020 were fraudulent. Again, this is just the most conservative estimate: the total number of fraudulent votes was probably much higher.
Furthermore, the survey reveals that fraudulent voting may not have been limited exclusively to voting by mail. Eight percent of all respondents, not just those who voted by mail, admitted that a friend, family member or organization (such as a political party) offered to pay or reward them for voting.
The survey indicates that the percentages of voter fraud among Republicans, Democrats and non-aligned voters were largely similar. It is vital to note, however, that this does not mean that these fraudulent votes simply cancel each other out.
While the percentages were similar, the overall numbers were not. According to the survey, 38% of Biden voters voted by mail, compared to just 23% of Trump voters. As such, Biden received a much higher overall share of likely fraudulent votes.
The 2020 election was an outlier for mail-in voting, largely due to executive overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the run-up to the November election, several governors declared states of emergency in response to the pandemic and arbitrarily changed their states’ election laws to allow mass mail-in voting. For example, California mailed unsolicited ballots to all registered voterswhile many other states expanded absentee voting eligibility requirements.
In 2020, several states also allowed ballot harvesting, which allows third parties to collect and mail ballots on behalf of voters, although evidence shows vote collection is “ripe for electoral fraud and abuse.”
All of this occurred despite the Constitution explicitly stating that only state legislatures have the power to make or change electoral laws. According to Article I, Section 4, “The dates, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”
There are many reasons why voting by mail is less reliable than voting in person.
To start, state voter lists are notoriously inaccurate. In 2012, the Pew Center for the States analyzed state voter registration lists and found that “approximately 24 million – one in eight – voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate. More than 1.8 million deceased people are listed as voters. Approximately 2.75 million people are registered in more than one state.”
Mail-in votes are also rejected at a surprising rate.
In New York, which used mail-in voting during its 2020 primary election, 21% of the ballots were rejected due to errors. In PennsylvaniaThe same scenario occurred with more than 20% of mail-in ballots rejected due to voter errors.
Even NPR expressed concern about mass mail-in voting in the months leading up to the 2020 general election.
“In this year’s presidential primaries, an extraordinarily high number of ballots have been rejected (more than 550,000). …That is much more than the 318,728 rejected ballots in the 2016 general election and has raised alarm about what could happen in November, when tens of millions more voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail, many of them for the first time,” NPR reported.
In 2012, the New York Times published an article titled “Error and Fraud in Question as Absentee Voting Rises,” which similarly concluded that “votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised, and more likely to be challenged.” than those cast in a vote.” position.”
Despite all these concerns, only 0.80% of all absentee and mail-in votes were rejected in 2020, according to Ballotpedia. Clearly, almost all of the fraudulent votes managed to pass through the enormous sieve of our country’s electoral system.
Although some people need to vote by mail, the practice should be the exception, not the rule. Considering that most states offer early voting, allowing voters to cast their ballots in person weeks before Election Day, there are few excuses for voters who don’t show up at a physical polling place. Furthermore, as this survey indicates, only 2% of voters would choose not to vote if their state banned voting by mail.
With the 2024 general election less than a year away, it is vital that state officials do everything in their power to shore up the integrity of their states’ voting systems and ensure that voting procedures are as reliable and accurate as possible. Our republic cannot survive without strict election laws that prevent widespread fraud.
