Washington Post Analysis Debunks Claims of Voter Fraud

Recently, we have seen several states across the country implement restrictive and unfair voting restrictions, citing the need to prevent against alleged fraud. But as this analysis in the Washington Post confirms, there are fewer examples of this illegal activity than voter ID supporters claim:

“A new nationwide analysis of more than 2,000 cases of alleged election fraud over the past dozen years shows that in-person voter impersonation on Election Day, which has prompted 37 state legislatures to enact or consider tougher voter ID laws, was virtually nonexistent.”

“The analysis of 2,068 reported fraud cases by News21, a Carnegie-Knight investigative reporting project, found 10 cases of alleged in-person voter impersonation since 2000. With 146 million registered voters in the United States, those represent about one for every 15 million prospective voters.”

“Requiring voters to show identification at the polls — the crux of most of the new legislation — would not have prevented those cases.”

“According to Pennsylvania state officials, as many as 759,000 people, about 9 percent of the state’s 8.2 million registered voters, do not have the identification that will be required to vote. The Justice Department is investigating the ID law to determine whether it violates the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act by discriminating against minorities, according to a letter sent to Pennsylvania officials.”

Instead of making false claims about preventing voter fraud, we should be working to inform and engage all of our citizens so that everyone can be an active participant in our electoral process.  We encourage the use of our online app to find out information about voting laws in each state so citizens can cast their ballot on Election Day.