America’s elections are the safest and most secure in the world. Americans should be rightly proud as our elections are conducted on a bipartisan basis and administered under a robust set of checks and balances second to none.

Here are the facts:

Studies from both the liberal Brennan Center for Public Justice and the conservative Heritage Foundation show an infinitesimal number of instances of voting fraud, none that would have changed election results:

• Brennan: A study of 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 general election flagged only about 30 incidents of suspected unauthorized voting, or one out of every one million votes.

• Heritage Foundation: Maintains a database that highlights some 1,500 “proven instances of voting fraud” over the last 20 years a period of time in which billions of votes were cast.

Every state and local jurisdiction uses common-sense procedures to safeguard the voting process:

• Including locks, tamper-evident seals, security cameras, system testing before/after elections, audits, physical & cybersecurity access controls.

Despite considerable research, no studies have been found of illegal immigrants or other noncitizens voting in any statistically significant numbers. Studies have shown that non-citizen voting is exceedingly rare:

• In 2016, across 42 jurisdictions involving 23 million votes, only an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting were found.

• In 2022, an audit in Georgia found that 1,634 noncitizens tried to register to vote over a 25-year period. None were successful in registering or voting.

• A recent Ohio audit found that out of eight million voters, only 138 voters suspected of being noncitizens were on the state’s election rolls (0.002%).

States and local governments use a variety of methods to maintain and update their voter registration records:

• Election officials regularly check death records, such as coordinating with motor vehicle departments to track canceled driver’s licenses, searching for published obituaries, or processing letters from a dead person’s estate.

• When Arizona’s attorney general investigated claims that 282 dead persons’ ballots were cast in 2020, he found just one case was substantiated. When Republican lawmakers in Michigan investigated a list of over 200 supposedly dead voters in Wayne County, they found just two.

Mail ballot fraud is exceedingly rare, in part because states have systems and processes in place to prevent forgery, theft and voter fraud.

• Security measures include imprinting barcodes on ballots/return envelopes, manually comparing signatures to samples stored in databases, conducting post-election audits and deploying specialized paper to detect counterfeiting.

• Between 2000 and 2012, the number of cases of mail-in ballot fraud were just 491— during a period in which literally billions of votes were cast.

A variety of reasons for why the lead may change as vote counting progresses:

• Cities and neighborhoods that vote heavily may be slow counting ballots.

• In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, state law prohibits pre-processing mail-in ballots prior to Election Day, which can lead to delays in counting on Election Day.

• Valid mail-in ballots received after Election Day may affect the race. Shifts in vote totals may occur because 1) Republicans tend to vote more on Election Day and 2) Democrats tend to vote more by mail-in ballots, which often are not counted until after Election Day.

News networks often make predictions based on incomplete information:

• Their predictions aren’t certified election results.

• Media outlets can make incorrect predictions. In 2000, some networks called the Presidential race, only to reverse themselves when the actual votes were counted.

Generally, states and local jurisdictions have specific requirements about who may serve as poll workers or election administrators:

• These include that poll workers must be U.S. citizens (or legal permanent residents), be registered to vote and be a resident of the jurisdiction in which they are serving as a poll worker.

A significant number of rules and regulations are in place to govern the election process in every jurisdiction:

• Most of these rules are in place well in advance of elections and subject to challenge in court prior to the election.

As Americans, we are accustomed to things being delivered quickly:

• We need to understand this – it’s far better to be accurate than fast; and give election workers the time and space to do their jobs correctly

The process includes:

• Checking voter eligibility.

• Confirming accuracy of results from each voting location.

• Securely transporting ballots and other materials.

• Serving as independent observers.

These partisan observers are called poll watchers:

• Each state has its own rules regarding poll watchers.

• Each party is granted identical access and opportunity to have its representatives observe

  and monitor the vote-counting process.

• These partisan observers may also register objections if they believe proper procedures are not being followed, or if they deem there is an advantage being provided to one party.

While voting machines and their accuracy have been subject to many spurious claims and litigation over the last few election cycles, vote-counting machines incorporate multiple layers of security to prevent fraud:

• State/local jurisdictions use a variety of testing and certification procedures before and after elections to ensure machines are accurate.

During the 2024 election, some 95% percent of votes cast – whether by hand or machine – will have a paper record for voters to review before casting a ballot:

• This is largely due to states and local jurisdictions replacing antiquated paperless voting machines.

• The paper record further assures the accuracy of the count and enables a hand recount if necessary.

Election officials follow a list of prescribed steps in verifying election outcomes:

• For mail-in ballots, election officials verify that a voter has registered, has not already voted through some other method, and that the returned ballot is in order.

• This includes verifying that the signature on the ballot envelope matches the signature on file.

• Near the end of the process, election officials may conduct audits to ensure results are

  correct before they are made official.

Election officials follow a list of prescribed steps in verifying election outcomes:

• For mail-in ballots, election officials verify that a voter has registered, has not already voted through some other method, and that the returned ballot is in order.

• This includes verifying that the signature on the ballot envelope matches the signature on file.

• Near the end of the process, election officials may conduct audits to ensure results are

  correct before they are made official.

Certification is a process where election officials follow procedures for counting votes in their jurisdiction and then report or “certify” their vote counts:

• If there are questions of suspected fraud or misconduct, only state-designated administrative or judicial tribunals may hear them.

• These hearings almost always occur after the certification process. If you think about it, it makes sense. Before certification, no one knows the results against which they are making a claim and there isn’t even an official result to be challenged.

• Another way to think about this issue is this – individuals who certify an election are like scorekeepers at a football game who keep track of the score and time remaining but leave it to the referees on the field to determine infractions of the rules.

• Similarly, certifiers keep track of the vote counts but leave the investigation and potential remedies for infractions of the rules to the state-designated administrative or judicial tribunals.