As voters head to polling stations Tuesday to cast their ballots on Election Day, the possibility of voter fraud and its impact on the election has come under the spotlight.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been telling voters to be aware of fraudulent voting at the polling places, suggesting his supporters should keep an eye out for those who may be trying to commit fraud. But some experts say the occurrences of voter fraud are not as frequent as many may think.

Josh Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, said the specific type of fraud Trump is discussing is voter impersonation, or a person showing up to the polls and posing as somebody that they’re not.

This is most commonly used with absentee ballots, Douglas said, as it is much easier to hide one’s identity. In addition, he said, voter fraud’s impact has only ever reached as far as local elections.

Richard Briffault, a professor at the Columbia Law School, said the regularity of voter fraud is “almost never.”

According to The Washington Post’s report on voter fraud research covering elections from 2000 to 2014, just 31 out of 1 billion votes cast turned out to be concrete examples of voter fraud. In comparison, about 300 people are struck each year by lightning in the United States, according to PolitiFact.

“Sounds like efforts in voter suppression,” Briffault said when asked why Trump is making a focal point on voter fraud. “An attempt to scare others away from voting.”

Most polls and predictions have Clinton winning comfortably Tuesday, but with many battleground states still in play, Trump has discussed voter fraud more over the past few weeks than he had previously.

Historically, low voter turnout has given Republicans an edge, while increased voter turnout gives a distinct advantage to Democrats. In addition to using voter fraud rhetoric as a scare tactic, Douglas said Trump is using the idea of voter fraud as a built-in excuse in the case of a loss.

Published on November 7, 2016 at 10:56 pm