Despite more Americans than ever opting to vote by mail in the 2020 election, a comprehensive government report found no significant increase in ballot rejections — refuting former President Donald Trump's claim that mail voting was more susceptible to fraud.
Since 2004, the Election Assistance Commission has conducted extensive biennial surveys of how Americans voted and states conducted their federal elections. The surveys also collect information about election laws, policies and practices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories.
The 252-page report on last year's election, released Monday, provides a detailed look into how voting and election administration were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Fulcrum will break down the findings in two parts. This first installment focuses on a general election overview, as well as how state policies changed during the pandemic. And a forthcoming article will examine on voter registration and military and overseas voters.
The EAC survey confirmed last year's record-high voter turnout of 67.7 percent of citizens who are of voting age — an increase of nearly 7 percentage points from 2016. Every state and territory reported an increase in voter participation, except Puerto Rico, which saw turnout drop by 9 points. Utah saw the most improvement from 2016, jumping up 15 points to 72 percent turnout in 2020.
And along with this surge in participation, Americans also shifted the way they cast their ballots. Due to safety concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, voting by mail overtook in-person voting on Election Day as the most common voting method in 2020. Jurisdictions that eased their policies on mail voting, namely adopting no-excuse absentee voting and conducting all-mail elections, saw more voters use that method.
Trump and his supporters claimed this increase in mail voting would lead to more instances of voter malfeasance. However, the EAC report found that less than 1 percent of mail ballots were rejected, which is on par with the 2016 rejection rate.
The most common reason mail ballots were rejected, the report found, was the voter's signature did not match (33 percent) the signature on file. Other reasons included the voter was not eligible in that jurisdiction, the ballot was missing an affidavit, or another important document or the ballot was otherwise insufficient or compromised.
The pandemic also created a demand for poll workers who were younger and less at risk of illness than the typical elections volunteers, who tend to be 65 or older. The EAC found that, across the country, young people stepped up to meet this need.
While nearly half the poll workers last year were still over the age of 60, states did see significant increases in people under 40 volunteering to work at voting stations. States also reported that recruiting poll workers was less difficult than it was in 2016.
Covid-19 also prompted substantial changes in state voting laws and election procedures last year — some temporary and others leading to permanent adjustments. The EAC asked states to identify the 2020 policies governing voter registration, voter eligibility, modes of voting, and election audits.
Read more: How the 5 most populous states have overhauled their election systems
In addition to election policy changes, states also adapted the machinery used for voting. Checking in voters with electronic poll books has become increasingly popular, but the old-school paper system is still employed in nearly every part of the country. And last year, only 32 jurisdictions (in Indiana, Tennessee and Texas) relied solely on voting machines with no paper backup. Having a paper record of the votes cast bolsters security and makes post-election audits easier to conduct.
EAC Chairman Donald Palmer said the data collected from this report provides important insight on last year's unprecedented, pandemic-era election.
"As election officials, academics and the Congress continue to study and learn from the 2020 elections, the EAVS data will serve as a foundation for analyzing best practices and informing the future of election administration," Palmer said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.