Way back around page 7 of this thread I went looking around for how the U.S. and courts in the U.S. have been dealing with voter fraud, aware that election security should be a bi-partisan issue and that there is an constitutional interplay between election security and voter suppression, (the basis of the voting rights act, for instance).
I was happy to learn and share that Kris Kobach, Mr. Voter Fraud
TM, held a trial in Kansas on the issue of voter fraud and had a chance to submit his evidence and experts on the issue, including the expert behind the claims of vast amounts of illegal voters systematically voting in U.S. elections (which I believe is the basis for Trump's claim that he actually won the popular vote in 2016). I also noted that President Trump created a Presidential Commission on Election Integrity in 2017, with Kris Kobach, Mr. Voter Fraud
TM as vice chair.
Let's all let this sink in: President Donald Trump, three years before battling for his political life over an election allegedly stolen from him through voter fraud, while in control of all houses of congress, created a presidential commission on voter fraud which quietly disbanded instead of making any findings, issuing any reports, or even staying open to serve as a clearing house for the concerns which are being raised at this very moment by the President himself. (Cherry or somebody asked a couple pages ago, why aren't we doing anything to check on this issue of voter fraud, outside the specific context of this election?) The U.S. is. That's what Bill Barr ordered out loud, and what U.S. attorneys do. By and large the voter fraud that occurs is bi-partisan, negligible, and it gets caught. The claims of wide-spread voter fraud have been investigated and disclaimed by U.S. head of election security, (fired), and re-iterated by Bill Barr, of all people.
The courts that have actually taken evidence on fraud in this election have heard evidence, reviewed affidavits and dismissed it. Every one.
On an institutional level, the Kansas case which I referenced above was the bellwether of this: There was an actual trial, with evidence, no holds barred, and the court weighed the claims and dismissed them. The court of appeals upheld those findings in an extensive opinion.
I listed these items as proof that so far all these studies and court cases had found that voter fraud was not a significant issue in the U.S. [Note: Every study. Every Court case. Now we have 59 more.]
In response Noel C. properly noted that the Kansas case had been appealed to the Supreme Court and he was confident that the Supreme Court would overturn the decision. [Good point.]
I am happy to report (for the sake of America being more secure if voter fraud is not a significant issue in America), the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari to the appeal of the Kansas Case this morning, meaning that the actual findings that voter fraud being statistically indistinguishable from zero in that case, in Kansas, are now permanent findings of fact.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-109.htmlWith that bookend, as much as people (and the president) quibble and battle, the actual state of the record in the U.S. by all studies and court cases which have analyzed the issue, is that voter fraud in not a significant issue in the U.S.
[I sheepishly quote myself below for the links included, for the proper addition that cert. has been denied for the Kansas appeals case quoted].
Let's try this more directly:
"A subsequent study The Guardian cites found that more than 99% of the people the system had flagged for potential voter fraud were, in fact, distinct voters."
"The article also mentions Kobach’s opinion piece for right-wing publication Breitbart in 2017, which claimed there was proof that New Hampshire’s elections had been swung because of voter fraud. The state’s top election official reprimanded Kobach, saying there was no such proof."
“It’s the same thing over and over and over — say it, say it, say it — and push it out there,” Lorraine Minnite, a professor at Rutgers University-Camden who studies voter fraud, told The Guardian. “It functions just like propaganda.”
"Trump appointed Kobach vice chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity in 2017. The commission was disbanded in 2018, after finding no evidence to support widespread voter-fraud allegations."
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article246745826.html
"The now-disbanded voting integrity commission launched by the Trump administration uncovered no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud, according to an analysis of administration documents released Friday."
https://apnews.com/article/f5f6a73b2af546ee97816bb35e82c18d
Hey! Here's an actual study referenced above, which studies and reviews the claims of voter fraud:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F0F11207B6EC1A0A5DE18DC283ACE926/S000305541900087Xa.pdf/one_person_one_vote_estimating_the_prevalence_of_double_voting_in_us_presidential_elections.pdf
Just do some google searches and follow some links. The news reports the consensus in line with the finding that "After extensive research, Levitt (2007) and Minnite (2010) conclude that little to no voter fraud—of any stripe—has occurred in recent U.S. elections." (cambridge link, id.)
As I do my google-fu, it seems some people disagree with those findings, but no one is still presenting any actual evidence of widespread voter fraud.
The news stories I'd found and linked (or didn't like) indicate stories of the people who try to commit voter fraud are not being successful.
-----------------------------------
The balance, which hasn't been responded to, is that tightening voter ID historically was directed to illegal voter suppression and functionally continues to do so now. For this reason (equal protection) the Kansas voter ID law was ruled unconstitutional in 2018, decision affirmed by the court of appeals in 2020.
"“The district court found that even under calculations from one of the Secretary’s experts, the estimated number of suspended applications that belonged to noncitizens was ‘statistically indistinguishable from zero,’ while ‘more than 99% of the individuals’ whose voter-registration applications were suspended were citizens who presumably would have been able to vote but for the DPOC requirement,” the court noted in its 84-page ruling."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/federal-appeals-court-rules-voter-id-law-unconstitutional
The appellate decision is in the link the Washington Examiner link. Probably a good read with actual evidence.
Probably supports the idea that Canada and the U.S. have equivalent levels of voter fraud, which is to say, negligible.
