Heed Jimmy Carter on the Danger of Mail-In Voting

‘Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.’

By John R. Lott Jr.

April 10, 2020 6:27 pm ET

Election workers prepare ballots for a mail-sorting machine in Renton, Wash., March 10.
Photo: lindsey wasson/Reuters

‘Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.” That quote isn’t from President Trump, who criticized mail-in voting this week after Wisconsin Democrats tried and failed to change an election at the last minute into an exclusively mail-in affair. It’s the conclusion of the bipartisan 2005 report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III.

Concerns about vote-buying have a long history in the U.S. They helped drive the move to the secret ballot, which U.S. states adopted between 1888 and 1950. Secret ballots made it harder for vote buyers to monitor which candidates sellers actually voted for. Vote-buying had been pervasive; my research with Larry Kenny at the University of Florida has found that voter turnout fell by about 8% to 12% after states adopted the secret ballot.

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You wouldn’t know any of this listening to the media outcry over Mr. Trump’s remarks. “There is a lot of dishonesty going on with mail-in voting,” the president said Tuesday. In response, a CNN “fact check” declares that Mr. Trump “opened a new front in his campaign of lies about voter fraud.” A New York Times headline asserts: “Trump Is Pushing a False Argument on Vote-by-Mail Fraud.” Both claim that voter fraud is essentially nonexistent. The Carter-Baker report found otherwise.

Intimidation and vote buying were key concerns of the commission: “Citizens who vote at home, at nursing homes, at the workplace, or in church are more susceptible to pressure, overt and subtle, or to intimidation. Vote buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail.” The report provides examples, such as the 1997 Miami mayoral election that resulted in 36 arrests for absentee-ballot fraud. The election had to be rerun, and the result was reversed.

There are more recent cases, too. In 2017 an investigation of a Dallas City Council election found some 700 fraudulent mail-in ballots signed by the same witness using a fake name. The discovery left two council races in limbo, and the fraud was much larger than the vote differential in one of those races. The case resulted in a criminal conviction.

In a 2018 North Carolina congressional race, Republican Mark Harris edged out Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes. Fortunately, the state had relatively complete absentee-ballot records. Election officials became suspicious when they discovered that the Republican received 61% of mail-in votes, even though registered Republicans accounted for only 19% of those who had requested mail-in ballots.

A Republican operative, L. McCrae Dowless Jr. , had allegedly requested more than 1,200 absentee ballots on voters’ behalf and then collected the ballots from voters’ homes when they were mailed out. Mr. Dowless’s assistants testified that they were directed to forge voters’ signatures and fill in votes. A new election was required, but Mr. Harris didn’t run. Mr. Dowless faces criminal charges for absentee-ballot fraud in both the 2016 and 2018 elections and has pled not guilty.

It is often claimed that impossibly large numbers of people live at the same address. In 2016, 83 registered voters in San Pedro, Calif., received absentee ballots at the same small two-bedroom apartment. Prosecutors rarely pursue this type of case.

Mail-in voting is a throwback to the dark old days of vote-buying and fraud. Because of this, many countries don’t allow absentee ballots for citizens living in their country, including Norway and Mexico. Americans deserve a more trustworthy system.

Mr. Lott is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author, most recently, of “The War on Guns.”

Appeared in the April 11, 2020, print edition as '.'

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1 year ago

Why is Gov Larry Hogan of MD mandating mail in ballots for a June 2020 primary that is irrelevant? He is setting a precedent for other states to follow and implement for the Fall 2020 Presidential elections. Fraud will be the winner for the Democrats in 2020. Larry Hogan *never trumpeter* is on the dole / already guaranteed a position in a Biden administration. There is no other explanation for his "king" like actions - taking away our right to vote in person. Even Jimmy Carter warned us about the Danger of Mail-In Voting.

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1 year ago

Voting by mail should replace voting at the polls in it's entirety. The two institutions that can definitely be trusted is the County Board of Elections and the United States Postal Service. The money saved by eliminating the need for poll workers could be used to offer free postage on the envelopes used to vote by mail. The person voting would also have more time to consider what they are voting for and would not be confined to the hours of the polling place. It would also prevent unwanted entry to schools and churches from anyone trying to harm someone. In addition the voter would not be harassed by someone trying to place unsolicited campaign literature into their hand. The additional revenue would boost the Postal Service and perhaps keep it afloat until we as a country are able to vote online. Voting by mail would solve the registered voter problem and guarantee safe passage of the ballots to the County Board of Elections.

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1 year ago

Guess you didn't actually read the article. Evidence was presented of fraud, and those are only the cases that were CAUGHT.

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1 year ago

If Democrats feel they can benefit a lot by the usage of absentee ballots and by likely associated fraud, what does this mean? Is there an implicit acknowledgement that Democrats expect it easy to find citizens among their ranks that are eager and willing to break the law and commit voting fraud? All the authorities need to do is to enable these eager law breakers. Is this the view of Democratic leadership of their voter base?

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1 year ago

That, plus illegals and felons.

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1 year ago

Absentee ballots should be the norm. There is no reason to wait in line for hours to vote. It's unproductive which is unAmerican. John West below is correct. Just takes some IT and people who care.

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1 year ago

I live in Washington State where we do not have polling places at all. You register with your address and receive a ballot by mail. You can either mail in the ballot or drop it off at a polling station on election day. Our system works fine and we have not had major issues with it. All it takes to defend against this stuff is some IT and some state officials who care about fair elections.

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1 year ago

LOL. And your very last statement is of course highlights the problem involving mail in voting.

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1 year ago

And is this why your state is filled with Democrats? Mailing ballots to everyone is dangerous.

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1 year ago

So the Democratic machine in Washington State is alive and well, I see. We need poll watchers in our precincts to make sure that the process is above board, yet we can just assume that a ballot that appears out of the mail was properly rendered? When dozens of ballots are delivered to a single household address and no one bats an eye? When boxes of ballots appears out of nowhere in a postal facility, we don't need to question the veracity of the vote.

And you don't think foreign influences might try to manipulate our elections? Voting by mail makes it ridiculously easy.

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1 year ago

Fraudulent voting will destroy a democracy. More elections than one would guess are decided by an incredibly small number of votes. We should err on the side against it.

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1 year ago

Remove the vote by illegals and other fraud and Trump won the last popular vote too, not just the Electoral College.

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1 year ago

The question is not if there is potential for abuse with mail-in ballots. The question isn't even if mail-in voting is open to more abuse than in-person voting, or to what extent.

The question is: Is the risk to wide spread voter fraud from mail in voting worse than the health risk to in-person voting, based upon the level of this pandemic in November? You can't wait until November 3rd to answer that question. Therefore, the reasonable answer is to prepare for the possibility of using more mail in voting. For all those concerned about voter fraud, use this time to address potential problems.

If the pandemic is still affecting national health the same as today, who would want their parents going to a polling place?

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1 year ago

We will all have died from starvation if the Covid 19 shutdown lasts until the November election.

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1 year ago

And rioting in the streets. People won’t sit quietly in their homes starving. They will go out and take what they need.

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1 year ago

We will not have a country by November. People need to stop the fear mongering.

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1 year ago

(Edited)

The absurd claim that there has never been a single proven case of voter fraud or coercion in the United States cycles endlessly in liberal circles.

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1 year ago

Voting should be in person with ID but over a weekend so people can vote as they are able when most people have time. Friday through Sunday voting would allow for less crowded polling places and more volunteers available to man polling places. Many countries in Europe allow weekend voting because it works.