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  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. vote by mail>

Claim: Universal mail-in voting has led to widespread voter fraud. Fact check: False

Brian Johnson, Medill School
August 27, 2020
President Donald Trump
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
For our Country to be sending 80 million UNSOLICITED BALLOTS is very unfair and a roadmap to disaster. Even recent… https://t.co/MpUNdOGfud
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1598363396.0

Nine states and Washington, D.C., will mail ballots directly to voters (what is known as universal mail-in voting), accounting for 44 million voters — half of President Trump's claim. Several states, including Colorado, Nevada and Washington have conducted primary elections in which ballots were mailed to all eligible voters. In Nevada some ballots were rejected largely because they were not properly filled out, but there were no reports of widespread voter fraud in those states


For our Country to be sending 80 million UNSOLICITED BALLOTS is very unfair and a roadmap to disaster. Even recent… https://t.co/MpUNdOGfud
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1598363396.0

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is keeping track of voter fraud during the 2020 election. Its database lists 13 cases so far. None occurred in states with universal mail-in voting.

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  • Lessons from Oregon, the top-ranked vote-by-mail state - The Fulcrum ›
  • Trump's allies push small instances of suspected vote fraud - The Fulcrum ›
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  • Vote By Mail: Ballot Fraud Risk, State Laws And Trump's Claims : NPR ›
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