Voter fraud isn’t unique to the left or the right.
In 2018, the North Carolina Ninth Congressional District race was invalidated after news reports broke that Republican political operatives had worked systematically to swing the outcome of the election through fraud. In 2019, a Mexican citizen who had stolen the identity of an American citizen, registered as a Republican, and backed Donald Trump in 2016, was convicted of voter fraud.
Of course, Democrats commit election fraud too. Four poll workers responsible for running a Philadelphia precinct used their positions to intimidate voters who showed up but didn’t want to vote for the Democratic candidate in a 2017 special election. Three of them were convicted in 2018, and the fourth was sentenced to a diversion program.
These are just a few of the many recent example of election fraud documented in elections across the country, but they speak to an important point: Anyone can commit election fraud, regardless of their party or ideology. Protecting the integrity of elections has become a partisan political issue, but the incentive to commit fraud doesn’t break down along party lines. Anyone can fall victim to the impulse to cheat, so everyone should back rules that guard against electoral malfeasance.