Thursday, September 15, 2016

Many voters, especially Trump supporters, vastly overestimate instances of voter fraud

How often registered voters think voter fraud happens 
Registered voters, especially Donald Trump supporters, believe voter fraud happens far more often than it actually does, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Of the 1,002 adults polled, 46 percent—69 percent of Trump supporters and 28 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters—believe voter fraud occurs very often or somewhat often, Emily Guskin and Scott Clement report for the Post. Voter fraud is described as multiple votes being cast by a single person, or an ineligible person casting a ballot.

A 2012 investigation by News21, a partnership of the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation, "found only 2,068 cases of alleged voter fraud had been reported since 2000, including only 10 cases of voter impersonation over the entire period," Guskin and Clement writes. A separate study by Loyola Law School "found 241 potentially fraudulent ballots over a 14-year period out of 1 billion ballots cast."

When asked if they were confident votes will be counted accurately, 49 percent of Trump supporters said no, compared to 18 percent of Clinton supporters, Guskin and Clement writes. Overall, 63 percent of respondents said they were confident votes would be counted accurately, down from 70 percent in 2004 when Republican George W. Bush was in the White House. During the 2014 election, 86 percent of Bush supporters were confident votes would be counted accurately, compared to 56 percent of John Kerry supporters. (Read more)

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