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Donald Trump (4/7/2020):"Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they're cheaters. They're fraudulent in many cases."NPR and others

I'm looking for actual numbers, How many cases of voter fraud are based on mail ballots? Have additional incidents occurred since last reviewed in Dec 2019 (refer to Q by Jonathan Reez, Link to Reez question).

(BTW, I vote a mailed absentee ballot - is that some how different?

BobE
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    Please cite the quote. – James K Apr 08 '20 at 06:24
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    Does this answer your question? Is there a higher incidence of electoral fraud in states that use all-mail voting? – JonathanReez Apr 08 '20 at 07:35
  • I see (now) the quoted part was a Trump rant with many-a-fact-check thrown at it https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/07/829323152/fact-check-is-mail-ballot-fraud-as-rampant-as-president-trump-says-it-is Might be suitable for Skeptics. Your title question "any proof that is fraudulent" is substantially weaker than "fraudulent in many cases" – the gods from engineering Apr 08 '20 at 09:00
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    As to your second question, there is no functional difference between a mail-in ballot and an absentee ballot aside from the fact that absentee ballots usually need to be specifically requested and often require an excuse for why you need one, rather than voting in person – divibisan Apr 08 '20 at 15:18
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    @divibisan - currently (July 2019) 28 states have "no excuse required" absentee balloting. [https://www.google.com/search?q=states+with+no-excuse+absentee+ballotting&oq=states+with+no-excuse+absentee+ballotting&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.22103j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 ] An application is required universally (I believe) – BobE Apr 08 '20 at 15:28
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    @divibisan - I have rolled back some of your edits. For example you changed the sentence" ...how many cases cases of voter fraud are based on mail ballots?" from a question to a declarative sentence " Many cases of voter fraud are based on mail ballots". I did not say that, and I did not intend to say that. I also don't know where you came up with the "post-2016" reference. My present quest is intended to update the answer provided by negative friction in Dec 2019 to Jonathan Reez's question. – BobE Apr 08 '20 at 18:03
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCrae_Dowless and https://www.nationalreview.com/news/michigan-city-clerk-charged-with-altering-ballots-in-2018-midterms/ are examples – endolith Apr 09 '20 at 06:20
  • @endolith if those citations are your answer, you should put it in a answer rather than a comment. Comments are intended for seeking clarity to the question, or explaining why the Q is downvoted. – BobE Apr 09 '20 at 15:09
  • @BobE An answer would be statistics. I've just shown that it exists – endolith Apr 09 '20 at 16:21
  • @endolith you've been on se long enough to realize that an answer doesn't require statistics, and that the purpose of comments is to add clarity to the question, not to show that "something exists". If you don't want to post an answer, that's OK. If you can't answer to the "many cases" are fraudulent, that's OK too. – BobE Apr 09 '20 at 17:34
  • The answer requires statistics if the question asks for statistics! Two examples don't say anything about whether it's true "in many cases" – endolith Apr 09 '20 at 22:17
  • @endolith - the point is I'm looking for something/anything that would verify that 'mail ballots are fraudulent in many cases'. If the two examples you cited are the extent of it, then that's the answer...... not a comment – BobE Apr 10 '20 at 03:31
  • @BobE I don't know if that's the extent of it, so it's not an answer... – endolith Apr 10 '20 at 16:08

1 Answers1

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Question

Is there any new evidence that mail-in balloting is “fraudulent in many cases”?

Short Answer:

No new evidence, no old evidence, Not in many cases, Not in any cases.

Apologies for channelling my inner Dr Seuss.

This is actually a decades long unsubstantiated assertion, by the Republican party. It is made in many elections and regardless of who wins, and who's appointees carry on the post campaign investigation into the allegations, the assertions are always disproven.

Details:

According to BBC News:

In the 2016 US presidential election, nearly one quarter of votes were cast by post, and that number is expected to rise this time round due to public health concerns over coronavirus.

What the Experts are Saying:

** May 27, 2020 - Ellen Weintraub, commissioner of the Federal Election Commission**, said: "There's simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud."

According to a press release on fbi.gov:

The FBI is the primary agency responsible for investigating malicious cyber activity against election infrastructure, malign foreign influence operations, and election-related crimes, like voter fraud and voter suppression or intimidation.

September 24, 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray: “We take all election-related threats seriously… we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it’s by mail or otherwise.”

Election expert Max Feldman, counsel in the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice “Voting by mail has been a secure part of our election system for many years.”

Brennan Center analysis and the Voting Rights Project, a 2012 investigation of nationwide election security, said that while absentee ballots are more susceptible to fraud than in-person voting, fraud rates are infinitesimal.

  • Decades long unsubstantiated assertion

How President Trump’s false claim of voter fraud is being used to disenfranchise Americans.
Takeaways on Trump, Voter Fraud and the Election

CDJB
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