Publisher's Synopsis
- Voter fraud is the "intentional corruption of the electoral process by the voter." This definition coversknowingly and willingly giving false information to establish voter eligibility, and knowingly andwillingly voting illegally or participating in a conspiracy to encourage illegal voting by others. Allother forms of corruption of the electoral process and corruption committed by elected orelection officials, candidates, party organizations, advocacy groups or campaign workers fallunder the wider definition of election fraud.- Voter fraud is extremely rare. At the federal level, records show that only 24 people wereconvicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, an average of eightpeople a year. The available state-level evidence of voter fraud, culled from interviews, reviewsof newspaper coverage and court proceedings, while not definitive, is also negligible.- The lack of evidence of voter fraud is not because of a failure to codify it. It is not as if the states havefailed to detail the ways voters could corrupt elections. There are hundreds of examples drawnfrom state election codes and constitutions that illustrate the precision with which the stateshave criminalized voter and election fraud. If we use the same standards for judging voter fraudcrime rates as we do for other crimes, we must conclude that the lack of evidence of arrests, indictments or convictions for any of the practices defined as voter fraud means very little fraudis being committed.- Most voter fraud allegations turn out to be something other than fraud. A review of news storiesover a recent two year period found that reports of voter fraud were most often limited tolocal races and individual acts and fell into three categories: unsubstantiated or false claims bythe loser of a close race, mischief and administrative or voter error.- The more complex are the rules regulating voter registration and voting, the more likely voter mistakes, clerical errors, and the like will be wrongly identified as "fraud." Voters play a limited role in theelectoral process. Where they interact with the process they confront an array of rules that cantrip them up. In addition, one consequence of expanding voting opportunities, i.e. permissiveabsentee voting systems, is a corresponding increase in opportunities for casting unintentionallyillegal ballots if administrative tracking and auditing systems are flawed.- There is a long history in America of elites using voter fraud allegations to restrict and shape theelectorate. In the late nineteenth century when newly freed black Americans were swept intoelectoral politics, and where blacks were the majority of the electorate, it was the Democratswho were threatened by a loss of power, and it was the Democratic party that erected newrules said to be necessary to respond to alleged fraud by black voters. Today, the success ofvoter registration drives among minorities and low income people in recent years threatensto expand the base of the Democratic party and tip the balance of power away from theRepublicans. Consequently, the use of baseless voter fraud allegations for partisan advantage hasbecome the exclusive domain of Republican party activists