An exhaustive study of all fifty states by investigative reporters has found only ten cases of voter impersonation dating back all the way to 2000. The rate of in-person voter fraud was so miniscule that it would only occur for 1 in every 15 million voters. Statistically you have a much better chance of being killed by lightning (54 people die per year from lightning strikes in the U.S. on average). Your chances of dying in a car crash are about 1 in 100 over a lifetime.

“Voter fraud at the polls is an insignificant aspect of American elections,” said elections expert David Schultz, who is a professor of public policy at Hamline University School of Business in St. Paul, Minn. “There is absolutely no evidence… [that voter impersonation fraud] has affected the outcome of any election in the United States, at least any recent election in the United States.”

Of the cases that were reported nearly half of them resulted in a acquittals, dropped charges or decisions not to bring charges. Most of the fraud that does occur is done by mail. Voter ID laws would not affect these cases. 37 states have passed or considered legislation that would require a photo ID in order to vote. An estimated one in ten voters do not have the necessary ID to vote. Among those groups most likely to not have ID are college students, racial minorities, the elderly and the poor.

Posted in Election 2012, Politics

Tags: election fraud, law, study, voter fraud, voter id