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For weeks, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been telling
supporters that voter fraud could undermine the November 8 election and cause
him to lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton. "They even want to try to rig the
election at polling booths where so many cities are corrupt and voter fraud is
all too common," Trump has said.
His campaign cites a 2012 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts that looked
at national voter rolls. The study found that nearly 2 million deceased people
were still registered. Pew blamed outdated voter rolls, however, and the report
found that no ballots had been cast illegally. There are more than 8,000 voting
precincts spread across the United States, and each one has local elected
officials who are required to regularly update their communities' rolls.
Dead people 'still voting'
Trump recently told supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that
"people who have died 10 years ago are still voting." Researchers say
voter fraud involving ballots cast on behalf of deceased voters is rare,
according to FactCheck.org. "This issue of dead people voting is just not
substantiated," Lorraine Minnite, a professor at Rutgers University and
author of The Myth of Voter Fraud, said in the FactCheck report.
Josh Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law
specializing in election law and voting rights, said impersonating anyone, dead
or alive, on the voting rolls is not only a federal crime but also hard to do. "You'd
have to go find someone who has died, find that they're still on the voter
registration rolls, and go show up at the polls," Douglas said. "In
states that don't have a strict voter ID requirement, you still show some sort
of verification. ... Everywhere you need to show something or sign in, and your
signature can be matched with the [one] you provided when you registered to
vote.
"When I go to my precinct, I have to sign in to vote before I go to
the machine. ... So, you'd need to have a mind-boggling ability to predict who
hasn't shown up, whom you can sign for that's not going to come later in the
day, [and] the ability to match your signature perfectly," he added. In
2014, a study, also authored by Levitt, found just 31 instances of voter fraud
— out of nearly 1 billion ballots cast — between 2000 and 2014, CNET reported.
Campaign to root out fraud
The New York Times noted that an aggressive campaign against voter fraud
by the administration of President George W. Bush brought 120 cases, with 86
convictions, out of 200 million votes cast. After the study, Pew worked with
several states to clean up voter registration rolls, which are affected each
time people move, change their name or die.
The Electronic Registration Information Center was created and is used
by 21 states and the District of Columbia, CNET reported. The system compares
and analyzes data from the 22 entities regarding voter and motor vehicle
registrations, U.S. Postal Service addresses and Social Security death records.
"People expect the government is going to be more efficient than it
is," David Becker, who helped lead the Pew study and is now executive
director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told CNET. "They
don't realize they have to tell many different state and federal agencies about
something like a move."
Trump also alleges at his campaign rallies that illegal immigrants are
voting enough to swing the outcome of an election. Douglas said that only U.S.
citizens can legally register to vote and that any names of noncitizens on the
registry would most likely be few, and placed there by error. "There's
zero evidence that illegal immigrants are nefariously trying to infiltrate the
U.S. election system by covertly registering and then going to vote,"
Douglas said.
He also said that because of the signature requirement, it also was not
likely that a person could vote multiple times. What's more, he said, there are
other safeguards. Someone trying to commit voter fraud would most likely be
spotted by poll workers, who stay at the polling place all day.Trained
political party officials and pro-voting groups also monitor the process. Douglas
said fraud could theoretically affect small local elections, where fewer voters
are involved. It could include dishonest poll workers or the purchase or theft
of absentee and mail-in ballots.
But he said there's no evidence of fraud on a large scale that could
throw a state or national election. Trump has also called upon supporters to
monitor polling places and be vigilant for voter fraud in areas such as in some
inner cities. The statement raises the specter of voter intimidation at polling
sites.
Most states make provisions for citizen observers, though they have to
be credentialed ahead of the voting. They must also not interfere in the
casting of any ballots or try to intimidate voters.
Douglas said voters who suspect fraud or have problems casting their
ballots will have access to voter protection teams and lawyers at the voting
sites. Many state officials who oversee elections, including secretaries of
state and governors, have come forward to say there will be no rigging.
Thirty-one of 50 U.S. states are led by Republicans, including the swing states
of North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida.