# Widespread Election Fraud Claims by Republicans Don’t Match the Evidence  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Brookings]] - Full Title:: Widespread Election Fraud Claims by Republicans Don’t Match the Evidence - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/widespread-election-fraud-claims-by-republicans-dont-match-the-evidence/?utm_campaign=Governance%20Studies&utm_medium=email&utm_content=284574309&utm_source=hs_email ## Highlights > The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has been [monitoring election fraud](https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/#choose-a-state) cases state by state. Election fraud covers a range of activities — such as registering someone to vote and forging their signature, filling out an absentee ballot for someone who has died or moved away, voting while ineligible, or pretending to be someone else at the polling place and voting. They find that there have been 1,465 proven cases of election fraud — 1,264 of these resulted in criminal prosecutions and the remainder resulted in civil prosecutions, diversion programs, judicial findings, or official findings. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgeh7wzg8sdr9p7j4adpm7e0)) > These may sound like big numbers, however, they must be examined in context. The findings encompass more than a decade of data during which, nationally, hundreds of millions of votes have been cast. For instance, in Texas, Heritage found 103 cases of confirmed election fraud. However, those 103 ranged from 2005 to 2022 during which time over 107 million ballots were cast. There were 11 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election alone. The fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast — hardly evidence of a fundamentally corrupt system. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgeh8x14fpy2pnak397h3m0j)) > But the story is much the same in swing states. For instance, in Arizona, where President Biden won [by a mere](https://azsos.gov/sites/default/files/2020_General_State_Canvass.pdf) 10,457 votes in 2020, Heritage documents just four cases of fraudulent voting in the general election ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgeh9zs18dbca4r5nqzegq1d)) > Furthermore, while former Republican gubernatorial candidate and 2024 Senate candidate Kari Lake [falsely claimed](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/politics/fact-check-kari-lake-140k-fraudulent-ballots/index.html) widespread fraud following her loss in 2022, there have been zero reported cases from that year thus far ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgeha98dfd7bjfda9rhxhxyj)) > To put these cases (or lack thereof) in perspective, Arizonans cast over 6 million votes in the 2020 and 2022 general elections ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehbs571cekzzh34g2anqy6)) > There is also minimal evidence to suggest that the few fraudulent votes benefited Democratic candidates. In one 2020 case, a 64-year-old Arizona Republican cast a Republican ballot on behalf of her deceased mother in [an apparent effort](https://news.yahoo.com/arizona-woman-voted-her-dead-123000342.html) to counteract what she believed was widespread voter fraud by Democrats. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehbmxg9m275921pfwx7w33)) > Other swing states have also recorded negligible numbers of election fraud. In Georgia, Heritage has reported no cases of fraud in the 2020 or 2022 general elections, in which [nearly nine million votes](https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/) were cast ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehc3yreh85gnqqppp4nznp)) > Otherwise, just [one case of fraud](http://thf-legal.s3.amazonaws.com/Voter%20Fraud%20Database/43rd%20batch/William%20Chase%202022%20GA%20Source%202.pdf) has been reported in the state in the last four years. It involved a 62-year-old convicted felon who filled out and submitted a ballot sent to the wrong address during the January 2021 Senate runoff election. And ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehchmqde5tz640qwyphs4t)) > In Florida, there were nine cases of election fraud between the 2020 and 2022 elections but many of those involved individuals who were [confused over whether or not they had the right to vote](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/florida-changes-law-boost-unjust-voter-fraud-prosecutions). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehd27getmxezmvb8hqk5t0)) > So, what’s going on here? Nothing ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehe4thndfdgjjp9y47gnf6)) > The political parties at the national, state, and local level have an intense interest in who votes and how. That’s why, come election years, *both* parties mobilize thousands of attorneys who, armed with blank injunctions, are ready to run to court at the slightest sign of illegal behavior. In Pennsylvania alone, for example, it is [estimated](https://www.penncapital-star.com/election-2020/election-season-court-fights-have-cost-pa-taxpayers-nearly-4m-and-counting/) that litigation attempts cost $4 million in taxpayer dollars. Despite the millions of dollars spent on litigation attempts regarding the 2020 election, 61 out of the 62 lawsuits filed had [failed](https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/politics/elections/2021/01/06/trumps-failed-efforts-overturn-election-numbers/4130307001/#:~:text=Out%20of%20the%2062%20lawsuits,of%20the%20voter%20fraud%20allegations.) by January 2021 alone. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehevf7mn0a4syzefy3qkph)) > Heritage admits that their tracker is not complete, and we have no doubts that there are probably cases out there still to be discovered or prosecuted. But thus far, the amount of proven election fraud is miniscule. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hgehg0rzbk6stnw11xkc1zw2))