Why There Isn’t Voter Fraud
Michael Toland, NLC Columbus
Within our country, there exists a sizable and loud enough group of people who raise concerns about voter fraud that we’ve seen several laws passed to combat this terrible issue — or so we’re told. Yet, studies continue to dispel these claims, showing that voter fraud occurs so infrequently that it essentially never occurs. Despite this research, there’s still this group, now led by our very own President, who claims it must be stopped.
Many of us have been in one of these conversations with someone who believes that voter fraud is real. Pointing to wonky studies and research never convinces them, so it’s up to us to find a new conversation track — one based on “why.” Here are three key points that we should all make when speaking to someone who believes these stories about millions of illegal voters:
1. Every county’s board of elections runs their elections slightly differently. These county boards go to great lengths to secure and safeguard their elections. In my home of Franklin County, Ohio, machines keep track of every touch the voter makes via a printer inside the machine that is locked and sealed — only able to be opened by an election official at the election headquarters, not by individual poll workers. The voter can see every selection they make via a window on the printer roll. The results are also compiled between all the machines, and printed. One copy goes up outside the polling location for the news organizations to report results per precinct immediately, and another goes back to the board and verified against all the individual machine tapes. Also, every machine arrives completely sealed, each seal is labeled, and new seals put in place at the end of the night to send the machines back, and all of this is documented.
2. Imagine how many people would need to be coordinated to submit millions of illegitimate votes. Many state voter registration laws require that you’re registered some amount of time before the election. If you haven’t registered, typically, you’ll be forced to vote a provisional or absentee ballot. You’re only able to vote at your specific polling location, and if you’re at the wrong location, you’re redirected to the right location. To pull off such an elaborate scheme, you’d need to coordinate efforts months in advance, across several polling locations, several counties and states, ensuring each fraudster knows their respective board’s rules. And, you’d need to coordinate all these efforts in secret, and forget any insider help. There’s simply no logical way a reasonable person can conclude this is a viable problem.
3. If the above arguments are not compelling enough, then encourage them to get involved in their local democracy to learn how it works. Tell them to contact their local board of elections and ask to be a poll worker — chances are they have a need for workers. It’s one day, you make an impact on this democracy we all cherish, and you can help ensure that individuals who believe voter fraud is a real issue have an understanding of how our elections are actually safeguarded.
The details of an election are painstaking, with myriad processes, policies, and procedures. If someone is willing to believe voter fraud claims despite no evidence, and thinking “why” there is no evidence doesn’t convince them, then maybe there’s no changing their mind. However, I’ve encouraged a few of my friends to get involved with me, and taking an approach based on logic vs. a wonky research study is more appealing to friends who may buy the arguments.
At the end of the day, my fellow progressives know this is about disenfranchising poor communities, and particularly poor communities of color. For our conservative friends, that argument doesn’t resonate. They simply think of the laws as protecting against a legitimate problem. Our first goal then should be to defeat the lie that there is a problem, and from there, the zeal to pass these laws is lost and minds can start to open up to other alternatives. That’s a good place to start.
Michael is an in-house Finance Operations & Strategy consultant for a large telecommunications firm in Columbus, OH. He is a 2018 NLC-Columbus fellow.
