Mail-in Voting = Voting Fraud?

In short no, mail-in voting does not have an effect on voting fraud, but this theory is still a threat to many peoples' right to vote. 

The current president of the United States stated on April 7th 2020; "Mail ballots — they cheat. OK? People cheat…There’s a lot of dishonesty going along with mail-in voting.” The issue of voter fraud seemed like something Trump was trying to avoid until now, in 2018 Trump himself disbanded the voter fraud investigative committee.

Now the president is continuously trying to avoid the mail-in voting method. There are anecdotes of organized voter fraud and a few reports but its very rare. People who are experts on voting say that fraudulent voting is extremely rare. According to News 21 out of 146 million registered voters in the past 20 years there have been 491 incidents of alleged absentee voter fraud.

In an interview the Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, said: “We’re not seeing the rampant fraud that the president talked about,”. Her office is in charge of cross-checking ballots and verifies voters, determining if there has been fraud. Kim Wyman is a republican and has no reason to defy Trump, it could be presumed that her office is checking more aggressively than ever.  

Voting by mail has always been important to have as an option, but in many states, it is not allowed. Voting by mail allows more people to vote, one has to have a certain amount of privilege to be able to go to the polls, being able to get work off, having transportation, being able-bodied enough to get to the polling place. 

So why is Trump trying to scare people with the idea of fraudulent voting?  Voting by mail allows many people to vote, which unfortunately is what Trump is scared of, there’s a fear that the more people that vote, especially those who are normally disenfranchised the bluer the country gets and the less likely he is to win the upcoming election.  

Right now is a time where mail-in means saving lives, with COVID-19 it is dangerous to leave the house and we have already tried it and seen the repercussions. Wisconsin carried along with in-person voting and 52 reported people had contracted COVID-19 from going to polls.

States such as Oregon, do have mail-in voting and have had it for previous elections, as an Oregon voter I have always appreciated having time with the ballot and how the process can be done on one’s own time. Now during COVID-19 it seems highly inappropriate to have in-person voting at all.