Just the Facts! The LWV of NY State has the FACTS on Voter Fraud

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Blog Post

The League of Women Voters of NY State has put together a thorough Q & A list to explain why our elections are secure. If you hear rumours about why our voting system is fraudulant, DON'T REPEAT IT. Instead, use the information you can find below or share the link to this page

Incidences of Voter Fraud

Is Voter Fraud Common?

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/debunking-voter-fraud-myth

No. There has been no evidence of voter fraud in the United States on a scale even close enough to rig an election over the last 50+ years.

The Brennan Center’s 2007 report on voter fraud noted that it is more likely that an American “will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls, with incident rates between 0.0003 and 0.0025%.

Counting all credible claims, regardless of prosecution, the Washington Post found only 31 claims of impersonation fraud from 2000 to 2014 in the US out of over a billion ballots. This counted ALL credible claims, regardless of convictions, and the number was still 31.

Furthermore, incidences of voter fraud can generally be traced to mischief, administrative, voter error and false claims by candidates in a close race

AKA rare for voter fraud to be intentional

What about for presidential elections?

A review of the 2016 election by the Washington Post found 4 documented cases of voter fraud, out of 136 million votes counted votes. The Electoral Studies Journal also found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

2016 working paper concluded that the amount of double voting in the 2012 election to be well under 0.02%.

It’s not an accident that voter fraud is low – we have extremely secure elections in the US and in New York. Here’s what’s in place:

Voting Machines

BOE website: https://elections.ny.gov/election-security

Are voting machines/ballot scanners connected to the internet?

No. Voting machines may be electronic but cannot be capable of externally transmitting or receiving data via the internet, radio waves, or other wireless means.

Election Law 7-202

How are voting machines certified in NY?

Through a thorough review process. Any voting machine or system must be examined by the State Board of Elections to ensure that the machine meets requirements of the state and the federal Help America Vote Act. No machines not approved in a testing laboratory or by examiners can be used at any election. Any changes in the systems must be reexamined and reapproved through the same system.

Election Law 7-201

What requirements must voting machines meet to be approved?

Among other things, all voting machines in NY must allow voters to vote for all candidates nominated and all ballot proposals. Machines must also have a counting mechanism to keep track of how many votes have been recorded in an election. They must allow voters to independently verify selected votes and correct errors and notify voters if they have selected more than one candidate for a single office.

Machines must have a lock to immediately lock machines after polls are closed. after polls close.

Machines must have a “protective counter” that records the number of times a machine/system has been operated, and a “public counter” that records the number of people who have voted on the machine at each election

https://elections.ny.gov/election-security

Election Law 7-202

What are audits? How do they work?

The Board of Elections runs two types of audits for each election: a pre-election audit and a post-election audit. For the pre-election audit, the Board tests one of every type of voting machine and every ballot counting machine. At least once annually, the Board tests each machine to ensure they can accurately record votes.

For the post-election audit, the Board of Elections audits the voter verifiable audit records on 3% of the voting machines and invites watchers to come observe the audit. Audit tallies recorded by each voting machine are compared with tallies recorded by the machines. If they do not match, the Board uses the verifiable audit records to determine votes cast.

Election Law 9-211

What can I do about mis and disinformation shared online?

Report anything wrong that you see on social media! On Facebook and Instagram, press the three dots and report misleading or false information in posts. On Bing, report false content to aka.ms/deepfakes-elections or aka.ms/2024elections. On TikTok, click on more and repost content.

Do not repost, comment, like or save false content – any interaction with such posts amplifies their reach.

How does the Board of Elections confirm voters' identity?

The Board of Elections bipartisan team verifies people’s identity when they register to vote. If they are unable to verify before Election Day, the person will be asked for an ID when voting for the first time.

If someone is not a first-time voter, they do not need to bring an ID to go vote.

How are votes counted? Who does it?

Ballots are counted by vote-counting machines, which are more accurate and faster than counting by hand – hand counts can have error rates up to 50 times higher than vote-counting machines. Voting machines produce records that election officials then can use to review and verify results.

Election officials also verify electronic totals by reviewing some ballots by hand and then comparing.

Once the election outcome is determined by the local BOE, the state BOE will certify the election results after conducting another count. This process finalizes the election results.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/hand-counting-ballots

Poll workers go through ballots in this order:

1. Processing Ballots: Verifying voter signatures and physically preparing ballots for tabulation

2. Tabulation – counting/recording ballots

Election Law 9-204

When do Election officials recount ballots?

https://ballotpedia.org/How_close_does_an_election_have_to_be_to_trigger_an_automatic_recount%3F_(2020)

In NY, election officials recount if election officials identify vote total discrepancies or as the outcome of a mandated post-election audit of voting machines.

Candidates in village elections may also request a recount.

How does NY Protect against poll worker bias?

Rules for Poll Workers

No candidates or candidates’ spouses, parents or children allowed

No elected officials

Each candidate, political party, and independent body shall be entitled to appoint a set number of watchers to observe polls and canvassing to ensure election security

Each political party entitled to representation on the Board of Elections may submit a list of people recommended to serve as poll workers. These people, if qualified, are chosen first to be poll workers.

Election Law 3-404

What about other election officials?

Appointments to offices of election inspector or poll clerk shall be equally divided between the major political parties.

Each party makes recommendations for election commissioners, who are then appointed by the county legislative body (or in NYC by the city council).

Do parties have any sway over poll site procedures?

No. That is strictly forbidden and enforced by bipartisan teams of election officials.

Are mail-in ballots secure?

https://news.columbia.edu/in-mail-absentee-ballots-secure-vote-election

Yes. There are many measures in place to ensure the security of mail-in ballots.

The NY BOE compares signatures from mail-in ballots with signatures on record from voter registration documents.

Absentee ballots mailed in nested envelopes with serial numbers specific to each ballot/envelope. Serial numbers of envelopes that come back are matched to serial numbers of envelopes sent to voters, making it impossible for someone to just print a pile of ballots and submit them.

Absentee ballots are only sent to registered voters

Absentee ballots are counted by poll clerks equally divided between representatives of the two major political parties.

Should a voter send in multiple absentee ballots, or vote in person and vote absentee, the ballot of the later date or that voted in person will be counted

Are ballot drop boxes secure?

Ballot drop boxes, which are used as an option to return mail-in ballots, are secured to the ground or a wall and are always locked. Ballot drop boxes must be sealed with tamper evident seals and located in areas that are monitored by surveillance cameras or on duty staff.

Ballot boxes are used widely across the country, and only election officials or designated ballot drop box collection teams have access to keys/lock combinations.

https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/electionofficials/vbm/Ballot_Drop_Box.pdf