Has Anyone Been Caught and Arrested for Voter Fraud Recently?

Yes, there have been cases of individuals being caught and arrested for voter fraud, but the scale and impact of these incidents remain relatively small in the grand scheme of U.S. elections. As of recently, one notable case involved a man in Arizona who was caught, but was simply released. This highlights the rarity of such incidents and the typical leniency applied to them.

Common Cases and Types of Voter Fraud

Every election sees a few instances of voter fraud, involving a variety of methods:

Duplicate Voting: People voting in multiple elections, sometimes using the voter ID of deceased family members. Felons Voting illegally: Individuals voting despite bans due to felony convictions, either unintentionally or intentionally.

These cases, while worrying, are typically small in scale and do not significantly alter the results of elections. Another common issue is voter intimidation or manipulation, often targeting poor or elderly voters.

Rare but Noteworthy Cases

There have been a few more serious cases in the past, but they are rare. One significant example occurred in North Carolina in 2016. A 'former republican operative' organized a system to harvest absentee ballots from elderly and disabled individuals. While the ballots were not definitively altered, the behavior was suspicious. The main person involved was charged and jailed, while others were barred from working in campaigns. However, the elections board deemed it insufficient evidence to alter the election outcomes. This case serves as a reminder that while fraud exists, it is highly infrequent and usually isolated.

Election Integrity and Voter Fraud Rates

According to the right-wing Heritage Foundation, a database covering most U.S. elections since the 1970s has recorded more than 1500 confirmed cases of voter fraud. With over two billion votes cast during this period, the fraud rate is remarkably low:

Less than one fraud case per 1 million votes cast, which is approximately 0.000075%. The organization estimates that many instances of fraud may go undetected due to lack of resources or interest from prosecutors. Even if the fraud rate were 100 times higher, it would still only be 0.0075%, which is still incredibly low.

Given the large number of separate voting jurisdictions in the United States, the likelihood of any one election being significantly affected by fraud is extremely low. For example, in 2020, only 100 out of 10,000 voting jurisdictions would have seen a single bad vote.

Conclusion

While voter fraud can be a concern in the U.S., the evidence suggests that it is extremely rare and generally does not alter election outcomes. The vast majority of cases involve small-scale incidents or fraudulent behavior that does not rise to the level of influencing the votes. Continued efforts to ensure election integrity are important, but the data suggests that the risks are minimal.