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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?

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    Please cite the quote.
    – James K
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 at 6:24
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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
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 at 7:35
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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
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 at 15:18
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    @divibisan - currently (July 2019) 28 states have "no excuse required" absentee balloting. [google.com/… ] An application is required universally (I believe)
    – BobE
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 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
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 at 18:03

1 Answer 1

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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

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