Mail Ballots: Facts About Potential Fraud

Congressional lawmakers and governors in many states are striving to force voting by mail in the November presidential election.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been one of the most vocal proponents calling for eliminating in person voting during the pandemic for safety reasons.

Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden have taken up the banner in the Senate by introducing the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020, a 57-page bill designed to promote online absentee ballot requests by any voter, not just those physically unable to go to polls.

Under the legislation, states would be required to allow individuals to use downloadable and printable absentee ballots which could be returned by mail or placed in designated drop box locations.  States are prevented from placing any security restrictions, such as a notarization or a witness signature.

Republicans have raised issues over voter fraud and vote harvesting, which have been dismissed by Democrats like a cow's tail swatting flies.  Mail-in or absentee ballots are susceptible to tampering, theft and shady schemes to dupe the elderly and the poor into voting against their interests. 

Democrats like to point to the fact mail-in voting is already used in some states, including Oregon which became the first to adopt mail-in voting exclusively in 1998.  The voters of Oregon however, not politicians in Washington, made the decision in a statewide ballot initiative.

Despite protections, Oregon's mail-in voting has shown how easy it is to exploit this system.  The Secretary of State in Oregon raised alarms after it found evidence 46 violations of election laws in the 2016 presidential election.

States without mandatory mail-in balloting, have their own problems with mail-in absentee voting. Cases have been uncovered where political advocates visit the homes of people and vote the ballots for them.  Victims rarely report the coercion because the perpetrators are politically connected.

In 2018, the North Carolina Board of Elections decertified the outcome of the 9th Congressional District race after charges of absentee ballot fraud.  In a closely contested race, the GOP candidate received 61% of all mailed votes, although only 16% of Republicans requested an absentee ballot

A year earlier a Florida mayor was convicted of a felony charge of voting fraud and misdemeanor absentee voting violations.  Prosecutors alleged the mayoral candidate coerced absentee voters to cast ballots for him.  He personally solicited a absentee vote from a nonresident, prosecutors charged.

In 2016, in the 78th House District race in Missouri the incumbent won the Democratic Party primary by just 90 voters. The race was contested over a lopsided absentee vote tally for the incumbent.  A new election was ordered and the challenger won by 1,533 votes. 

Absentee ballots are the "tool of choice" for those engaging in election fraud, concluded the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after investigations of a series of voter irregularities over a decade.  Absentee and mail-in vote systems also have been plagued by yawning discrepancies.

Between 2012-2018,  the federal Election Assistance Commision found more than 28.3 million mail-in ballots went missing. The ballots amounted to nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and mail-in ballots cast in states that vote exclusively by mail: Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah and Hawaii.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a nonprofit headquartered in Indianapolis, compiled the data from reports provided by the Election Assistance Commission. Although there was no evidence of voter fraud, the PILF noted the sheer volume raises serious doubts about election security.

PILF found that in Texas mail-in ballots have spawned a "mini-industry" of consultants who get out the absentee votes using questionable techniques.  The poor, elderly and minority communities are the most likely be be preyed upon by these ballot harvesters, according to the PILF.

Mail-in voting has another dark side.  The voter registration rolls include 1.8 million dead people and more than 24 million voters whose registrations are either invalid or inaccurate, according to research by the Pew Center on the States.  In some states, each voter on those rolls receives a ballot.

That inherent problem is magnified by the fact the use of mail-in ballots has more than doubled from 24.9 million in 2004 to 57.2 million in 2016.  The data suggest about 40% of the votes now cast in U.S. elections are transacted by mail.  Despite the increase, there have been no new safeguards.

Proponents of mail-in voting like to cast voter fraud as a rarity that should not taint the process.  According to data compiled by The Heritage Foundation, there have been 1,200 cases of voter fraud in all forms, resulting in 1,100 criminal convictions in the last 20 years.

Supporters of mail-in voting contend that data is not sufficient evidence to reject the idea.  But mail-in fraud is not the only threat to elections. There is growing scrutiny of elections at the local level, where election judges have wide discretion in the reporting and counting of votes.

In a filing last week by the Department of Justice, the complaint alleges the Judge of Elections for Philadelphia's 39th Ward 36th Division, took cash and checks to tamper with election results.  The department contends the judge would add fraudulent votes to the totals of preferred candidates.

In one count, the DOJ alleges the defendant and others certified results for 118 ballots cast during a primary election when only 91 voters physically appeared to cast ballots. On another occasion, the defendant is charged with certifying fraudulent voting receipts after polls closed.

Election fraud is real not some urban myth.  However, under some previous administrations, voter fraud has not been a priority, resulting in the underreporting of cases or ignoring calls for investigations.  Even if it is not widespread, it should not be shrugged off.

Fortunately, there appears to be little appetite in the Republican-controlled Senate to adopt the mail-in ballot bill, but that hasn't stopped Democrats from waging a campaign to mandate mail-in voting in the presidential election.  It is part of the political doctrine, "Never let a good crisis go to waste."

Some states, such as California, have already mandated that mail-in balloting will be used.  The decision was made by the governor, not the citizens.  In Texas, the state Supreme Court has already ruled that the risk of contracting the virus does not meet the state's qualifications for voting by mail.

The battle over mail-in voting may ultimately land on the doorstep of the U.S. Supreme Court.   The Constitution grants states wide power to hold elections for the U.S. House and Senate.  However, the Congress has authority to supplement states laws with its own rules in federal elections.

In the case of presidential elections, both states and Congress are delegated authority over times, places and manner of vote. This could be the first time for the Supreme Court to weigh in on  this important issue, establishing a precedent on the power to change voting methods.