The 'Voter Fraud' Myth Debunked

Or, if you prefer, living voters are casting ballots in the names of dead ones. (As in: 'Among Voters in New Jersey, GOP Sees Dead People' '1.8 Million Dead People Registered to Vote,' and 'Dead People Cast Over 950 Ballots in South Carolina.')

The truth: In most cases, allegations arise from flawed matches of death records and voter rolls. Sometimes a voter turns out to have died after voting; in other cases, a living voter might be mistaken for a dead one with the same name.

Typical case: In Georgia in 2000, 5,412 votes were alleged to have been cast by dead voters over the previous 20 years. The allegations were based on a flawed match of voter rolls to death lists. An investigation turned up only one instance, and even this was later found to have been an error: One Alan J. Mandel was alleged to have voted in 1998, despite having died in 1997. It turned out that another Alan J. Mandell (two "l"s) – very much alive – was the guy who'd voted, but election workers simply checked the wrong name off of their list.

More
• Rolling Stone: The GOP War on Voting
• Brennan Center for Justice: The Truth About Voter Fraud