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States work to calm fears over rare cases of voter fraud
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States work to calm fears over rare cases of voter fraud

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

Fears of fraud have been raised in several states, including the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

TO a non-citizen was charged after allegedly casting a vote last weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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

But they continued: “When it happens, we take it very seriously. “Our elections are secure and Michigan state and local election officials carefully follow the law.”

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

Former President Donald Trump has expressed 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 group of third parties,” reads a Trump social media post. “This adds up that Lancaster County was caught with 2,600 fake ballots and forms, all written by the same person. Really bad “stuff” WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Law enforcement must do their job immediately! !! WOW!!!”

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

Staff have verified that about half of the requests are legitimate and approved them, county officials said Wednesday.

About 30% of applications were found to have incomplete information. Approval of those applications is pending additional information from the applicants.

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

purged virginia around 1,600 voters on his lists, who he believes are not citizens.

Non-citizens, including legal permanent residents, They are not allowed to vote in federal, state and most local elections.

Two states, Connecticut and Delaware, allow nonresident voting in municipal or town elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ten states allow nonresident voting in certain special district elections: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee and Wyoming.

Illegal voting by noncitizens rarely occurs, and a The Cato Institute expert wrote in 2020 that the evidence does not support the fear that non-citizens will vote enough to change the outcome of the election.

Voter fraud of any kind is extremely rare.

Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, analyzed an election fraud database from the conservative Heritage Foundation.

she said she The analysis found a “minuscule” amount of voter fraud. in the united states

For example, she wrote that Heritage Tracker for the swing state of Pennsylvania It goes back 30 years, covers 32 elections with more than 100 million votes cast, and found only 39 cases of voter fraud.

The percentage of fraudulent votes over the 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 breakdown shows small percentages of fraudulent votes in follow-up years for the seven swing states (rounded electoral figures):

Arizona: 26 cases of fraud reported in 25 years among 43 million votes cast

Georgia: 23 cases of fraud reported in 27 years among 65 million votes cast

Michigan: 19 cases of fraud reported in 17 years among 65 million votes cast

Snowfall: Eight cases of fraud reported in 13 years among 9 million votes cast

North Carolina: 58 cases of fraud reported in 38 years among 82 million votes cast

Pennsylvania: 39 cases of fraud reported in 30 years among 101 million votes cast

Wisconsin: 69 cases of fraud reported in 20 years among 45 million votes cast

Georgia audited its 2022 elections and found that in the past 25 years, fewer than 1,700 people believed to be noncitizens attempted to register to vote and none were able to cast a ballot.

Most Americans are confident that this election will be well managed, but there is considerable partisan gap in trust levelaccording to the Pew Research Center.

A poll showed that 73% of voters overall and 90% of Vice President Kamala Harris’ supporters expect the election to be well administered.

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

The poll also found that Harris supporters are more confident than Trump supporters that it will be clear who won after all the votes are counted (85% vs. 58%), and they are more confident that ballots submitted by mail will be counted as voters intend (85%). % versus 38%), are more confident that our elections are safe from hacking (73% versus 32%) and that ineligible voters will be prevented from casting their ballot (87% versus 30%).

Are Trump supporters too distrustful or Harris supporters too trusting?

“Trump supporters are too distrustful,” Todd Belt, director of the Political Management program at George Washington University, told The National News Desk last week. “And the reason I say this is that incredibly little electoral malpractice occurs. It’s just a few votes here and there, and they usually find the person who did it. There are no real big problems with the counting processes. “This is done with the supervision of both parties and you can have a lot of confidence in the electoral counting process.”

Belt said Trump rhetoric of a stolen election has affected Republican attitudes.

Election laws, of course, vary by state.

Thirty-six states have Laws requiring voters to show some form of identification. at the polls, according to NCSL.

The remaining 14 states and Washington, D.C., use other methods to verify voter identity, the NCSL says.

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

Arizona: Strict identification without photography. If identification is not presented, the voter votes on a provisional ballot and must return to show identification within five days.

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

Michigan: Photo identification is requested. If identification is not presented, the voter signs an affidavit and votes a regular ballot.

Snowfall: No document is required to vote.

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

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

Wisconsin: Strict photo identification.

States have other laws to prevent voter fraud.

At least 35 states have statutes prohibiting manipulation of voting systemsaccording to the NCSL.

double vote It is often considered a felony and 19 states explicitly prohibit voting in more than one state.

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

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

Grayce McCormick of the national news desk contributed to this report.