Coming clean: 1 in 5 admits 2020 election fraud
by Paul Bedard, Washington Secrets Columnist
About 20% of 2020 voters now claim they took advantage of election laws that loosened up because of the coronavirus crisis to commit fraud, including filling out ballots for others, according to a shocking report being unveiled Tuesday.
Some admitted they voted in states they don’t live in, and others said they let somebody else fill out their mail-in ballots, neither of which is allowed.
“For the past three years, Americans have repeatedly been told that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. But if this poll’s findings are reflective of reality, the exact opposite is true. This conclusion isn’t based on conspiracy theories or suspect evidence, but rather from the responses made directly by the voters themselves,” said Justin Haskins, director of the Heartland Institute’s Socialism Research Center.
“The 2020 election was unlike any other in history as tens of millions of Americans voted by mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many experts warned that massive mail-in voting could result in widespread voter fraud. Unfortunately, these concerns were prophetic, as the results of this poll clearly show that a large number of voters did indeed fraudulently cast ballots in the 2020 election,” Heartland Editorial Director Chris Talgo added.
The public policy nonprofit group shared its new Heartland Institute/Rasmussen Reports survey revealing the possible fraud in the 2020 election with Secrets.
In 2020, as the COVID crisis grew, several states loosened election laws to allow mail-in voting, vote bundling, absentee voting, and other changes to let those concerned about getting the virus stay away from the polls.
The changes were sold as positive moves to make voting easier but have since raised red flags. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have claimed that Democrats took advantage of the laws to make Joe Biden president fraudulently.
Other surveys have shown that sizable groups of voters agree the election was plagued with fraud, but this is the first in which voters told a pollster they were involved.
Among the findings shared with Secrets:
- Twenty-one percent of likely voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child, while 78% say they didn’t.
- Thirty percent voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election.
- Nineteen percent of those who cast mail-in votes say a friend or family member filled out their ballot, in part or in full.
- Seventeen percent of mail-in voters said they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer permanent residents.
- Among all voters, mail and in-person, 11% said a friend, family member, co-worker, or other acquaintance has admitted to them they filled out a ballot on behalf of another person in 2020.
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Heartland officials said they hoped the survey would spark efforts to tighten voting rules before the 2024 election, which is less than a year away.
“It is paramount that the American people have the utmost confidence that all elections are free and fair, and bereft of voter fraud as much as possible. Therefore, states should ensure their voter rolls are up to date and accurate, encourage in-person voting, and implement commonsense measures to reduce the potential for mail-in voting fraud,” Talgo said.
