Media Relations Update
June 25, 2020
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  Dispelling myths about vote-by-mail fraud 
As the November election approaches, many state leaders and election officials are promoting the option of vote-by-mail during the current pandemic. Voting by mail mitigates potential risk of spreading COVID-19, and eliminates obstacles to in-person voting that many people face, like traveling to a faraway polling center or paying for childcare to be able to vote. Meanwhile, the President has falsely claimed that voting by mail spurs widespread voter fraud. Numerous studies have dispelled these claims and instead, highlight that voting by mail is widely desired by the majority of voters, voter participation increases when using mail-in ballots, and the effects do not favor one political party over another.
Credit: Two-Thirds of Americans Expect Presidential Election Will Be Disrupted by COVID-19 , April 28, 2020. Pew Research Center: U.S. Politics & Policy. 
In a recent Pew Research Center report, Two-Thirds of Americans Expect Presidential Election Will Be Disrupted by COVID-19 , researchers found that Americans’ support for vote-by-mail efforts grew across the board from 2018-2020 , revealing widespread support for alternative voting practices.
Credit: Hall, Andrew B., Thompson, Daniel M., Wu, Jennifer, Yoder, Jesse, The Neutral Partisan Effects of Vote-by-Mail Evidence from County-Level Roll Outs , April 15, 2020. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).
Voting by mail also increases participation across the board, according to a study published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, The Neutral Partisan Effects of Vote-By-Mail: Evidence From County-Level Rollouts . Further, results indicate that mail-in ballots also do not favor one party over another, emphasizing that neither Democrats nor Republicans benefit more than the other as a result of vote-by-mail expansion.  
The Brennan Center for Justice recently published an analysis of The False Narrative of Vote-by-Mail Fraud . The analysis consolidates the findings of various studies and investigative journalism efforts examining voter fraud among mail-in ballots and found that only 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud were ever found from 2000-2012, despite the fact that billions of votes were cast during that time. These numbers are nowhere near enough to sway the outcome of an election. The analysis notes, “it is still more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit mail voting fraud.”
Sources:
Two-Thirds of Americans Expect Presidential Election Will Be Disrupted by COVID-19 , April 28, 2020. Pew Research Center: U.S. Politics & Policy. https://www.people-press.org/2020/04/28/two-thirds-of-americans-expect-presidential-election-will-be-disrupted-by-covid-19/

Ekeh, Harold and Weiser, Wendy R, The False Narrative of Vote-by-Mail Fraud , April 10, 2020. Brennen Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/false-narrative-vote-mail-fraud

Hall, Andrew B., Thompson, Daniel M., Wu, Jennifer, Yoder, Jesse, The Neutral Partisan Effects of Vote-by-Mail Evidence from County-Level Roll Outs , April 15, 2020. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). https://siepr.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/20-015.pdf
Roger Salazar, President
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Hilary McLean, Partner
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