Ballot stuffing
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Ballot stuffing or ballot box stuffing is a form of electoral fraud in which a greater number of ballots are cast than the number of people who legitimately voted. The term refers generally to the act of casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter when only one ballot per voter is permitted.[1]
There is debate surrounding the extent to which this and other forms of voter fraud occur. John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky—with The Heritage Foundation, which describes itself as a conservative think tank—wrote that "the media aren’t doing our democracy any favors by summarily dismissing the existence of voter fraud – like the almost 1,200 proven cases in the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database – while questioning the very need for accurate voter rolls."[2][3] According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy institute which describes itself as progressive, "The consensus from credible research and investigation is that the rate of illegal voting is extremely rare, and the incidence of certain types of fraud – such as impersonating another voter – is virtually nonexistent."[4][5]
This and other pages on Ballotpedia cover types of election and voter fraud for which there are documented cases and around which there is debate concerning the frequency of instances and proposed responses.
Case studies
- The Heritage Foundation's Election Fraud Database includes the following case involving ballot stuffing in West Virginia:
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Former Lincoln County Commissioner Thomas Ramey pleaded guilty to lying to federal officers in the midst of their investigation of a massive voter fraud conspiracy. Sheriff Jerry Bowman and County Clerk Donald Whitten also pleaded guilty, admitting that they stuffed ballot boxes with fraudulent ballots and falsified absentee ballots in an effort to rig the 2010 Democratic primary. Whitten won the election, but a judge overturned the election after throwing out 300 fraudulent ballots. Ramey was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment. Bowman was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a $5,000 fine. Whitten was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release, with a $5,000 fine.[6][7] |
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Related forms of electoral fraud
Ballot stuffing can include other forms of electoral fraud, such as the following examples:
- Absentee ballot vote fraud: Ballot stuffing can occur when a person attempts to fill out and turn in absentee ballots under the names of false or non-existent voters.
- Fraud by election officials: Ballot stuffing can occur through manipulation of ballots by officials administering the election, such as tossing out ballots or casting ballots in voters' names.
- Votes cast in the names of deceased people: Ballot stuffing can occur when a living person fraudulently casts a ballot in the name of a deceased person who remains on a state's official list of registered voters.
Alleged ballot stuffing around the world
This section provides a sample of links to coverage of international elections where ballot stuffing has been alleged.
- The New York Times, "Signs of Ballot-Box Stuffing Add Tension to Afghan Vote Count," October 3, 2019
See also
- Electoral fraud
- Election governance by state
- Voting and election governance: Support and opposition topics
- Voting rights for convicted felons
- Voter identification laws by state
- Mail ballot collection and return laws by state
- Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States
Footnotes
- ↑ The Free Dictionary, "Stuff the ballot box," accessed September 22, 2013
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "Voter Fraud Exists – Even Though Many in the Media Claim It Doesn’t," October 29, 2018
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "About Heritage," accessed February 10, 2020
- ↑ The Brennan Center, "Resources on Voter Fraud Claims," June 26, 2017
- ↑ The Brennan Center, "Progressive Groups Oppose White House Prison Reform Bill," April 18, 2018
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "Election Fraud Cases," accessed December 18, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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