There has n’t been any evidence of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election, according to the corporate press and numerous Biden White House officials over the past three years.  , Some have even gone so far as to visit it the “most secure” vote in U. S. history.
But, a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, which I conducted with a team of experts at the Heartland Institute and discussed last week on Tucker Carlson’s present, not only raises questions about that frequently-repeated assertion, but also demonstrates that the opposite could have been the case. According to its findings, voting fraud, particularly fraud related to email- in ballots, may have been popular in the 2020 election. This realization is not based on doubtful allegations, but rather on the responses of voters to the ballot questions.
The Heartland Institute/Rasmussen study, which was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6, asked good citizens who cast ballots in 2020 concerns about false actions, without telling them such steps were a form of voter fraud. The effects were beautiful. One in five people who used message to cast ballots admitted to engaging in at least one type of possible voter fraud, really putting the safety of common mail-in balloting in question.
For instance, one query asked,” During the 2020 election, did you throw a email- in vote in a condition where you were no longer a continuous resident”? For a choice almost always leads to scams. Unbelievably, 17 percent of voters said “yes”.
Another issue asked if” a friend or family member” filled out a participant’s vote, “in piece or in full”, on behalf of the participant, which is outlawed in some state. The survey study respondents who responded answered “yes” in 19 % of the mail-in voters.
Even more impressively, 21 % of respondents admitted to filling out a ballot for a friend or family member, with or without their consent, and 17 % admitted to doing so for the sake of a friend or family member. Both of these statements could constitute illegal voting.
Taken together, these results clearly indicate scams and illegitimate voting greatly disturbed mail- in balloting in the 2020 election. Even if only a small percentage of those who admit wrongdoing here are actually guilty, that would still be the electoral margin for 2020.
Since that election involved more mail-in ballots than any other election in U.S. history, it’s an incredibly significant finding. Election officials report that of , 159 million ballots cast in 2020, more than 68 million were submitted by mail, about , 43 percent , of the total. Additionally, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab noted that the country’s overall absentee rejection rate decreased significantly from 0.96 percent in 2016 to 0.79 percent in 2020 as a result of the dramatic increase in the raw number of absentee ballots cast.
If the recent Heartland Institute/Rasmussen survey is accurate and one in five ballots were, in fact, fraudulent, that would suggest greater than 13 million ballots should not have been counted nationwide in 2020. That’s far more than the margin of victory for President Biden in the popular vote, about 7 million.
Even though these findings are troubling, additional questions in the Heartland Institute/Rasmussen survey suggest that voter fraud and illegal voting may have been worse than the one-in-five figure suggests. For instance, 8 percent of , all , respondents — not just those who voted by mail — said they were offered “pay” or “reward” in return for voting.
Equally disturbing, 10 percent of voters said” a friend, family member, co- worker, or other acquaintance” admitted to them that he or she” cast a mail- in ballot in 2020 in a state other than his or her state of permanent residence”. Eleven percent said that” a friend, family member, co- worker, or other acquaintance” admitted to filling out someone else’s ballot.
These inquiries could indicate that far more fraud has occurred than previously believed.
Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that presidents are elect through the Electoral College rather than a popular vote. The three states in which Trump and Biden were closest — Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin — were all decided by fewer than 21, 000 votes.
Biden narrowly won each of those contests, but if he had lost those three states, he would n’t have reached the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency. Instead, the Electoral College vote would have been a tie,  , pushing the decision to the Republican- controlled House of Representatives. With such razor-thin margins and the results of the most recent Heartland/Rasmussen voter fraud survey in mind, it’s difficult to imagine how much of an impact fraud actually had on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Unsurprisingly, regardless of how much fraud took place, one thing is unquestionably certain: States must take necessary legislative steps to safeguard the integrity of the following presidential election so that all Americans can be certain that the 2024 campaign’s winner will win the White House fair and square.
Voter fraud may have a significant impact in 2024, according to the available compelling evidence. According to another survey conducted by the Heartland Institute and Rasmussen in March and April, 28 percent of likely voters now declare they would “if given the opportunity” to cast at least one illegal ballot in the 2024 election. Interestingly, respondents ‘ willingness to commit fraud was similar among Republicans, Democrats, and independents.
There is some good news, however. Changes to mail-in ballot rules can significantly lower the risk of voter fraud. Voters who are physically able to cast their ballots in person should either be required to do so or have their signature notarized, significantly reducing the likelihood of fraud. Legislators could fund public initiatives to make it easier for those who need notaries to access them for free.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, just three states require notaries for mail- in ballots — Mississippi, Missouri, and Oklahoma. A voter must also obtain one or more non-notary witnesses ‘ signatures when mailing a ballot in only nine additional states. The majority of states do not require a witness or a notary to verify signatures.
In upcoming elections, legislators must make sure that there is no widespread voter fraud. That can only occur if mail-in voting systems are radically improved. Legislators have until August to fix these significant dangers to American self-government.
Justin Haskins ( Jhaskins@heartland .org ) is the director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute and a New York Times bestselling author.
