There has been much talk about voter and election fraud as the president seeks to delegitimize elections. He talks a lot about manual methods like stealing ballots or impersonating other voters. The truth is that election fraud like this is incredibly rare. The point of his words seems to have two purposes, both common conservative arguments:
- Disenfranchise voters by increasing “security” with photo ids and limiting where and how voting can take place
- Decrease confidence in elections by sowing doubt about election integrity, thus making it easier to call results into question and limiting turnout due to mistrust
The purpose of this post is to explore how election fraud by stealing ballots could be perpetuated, thus showing why it’s so rare. I will also talk about more effective methods of election fraud, many of which are already happening.