In the wake of the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. Despite these claims being debunked by election officials, Trump and his supporters continue to push for stricter voter ID laws and a return to paper ballots. However, these measures would do little to prevent voter fraud but could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
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Trump’s call for stricter voter ID laws is based on the false premise that voter fraud is a widespread problem. In reality, voter fraud is extremely rare. A study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that out of 1 billion votes cast in the 2016 election, there were only 31 credible instances of voter impersonation fraud. That’s less than one case per million votes.
Stricter voter ID laws would not prevent the infinitesimally small number of cases of voter impersonation fraud that do occur. They would, however, make it more difficult for legitimate voters to cast their ballots. A study by the Government Accountability Office found that strict voter ID laws could disenfranchise up to 2.3 million eligible voters, including disproportionately high numbers of African Americans, Latinos, and low-income voters.
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Trump’s call to return to paper ballots is also based on a false premise: that paper ballots are more secure than electronic voting machines. In reality, paper ballots are more vulnerable to fraud than electronic voting machines. They can be easily altered, lost, or destroyed. They can also be used to facilitate ballot stuffing and other forms of voter fraud.
Electronic voting machines, on the other hand, have a number of built-in security features that make them more resistant to fraud. They are tamper-proof, meaning that they cannot be altered without being detected. They are also auditable, meaning that the results of an election can be independently verified.