Electoral fraud in the United States

In the United States, electoral fraud, or voter fraud, involves illegal voting in or manipulation of United States elections. Types of fraud include voter impersonation or in-person voter fraud, mail-in or absentee ballot fraud, illegal voting by noncitizens, and double voting. The United States government defines voter or ballot fraud as one of three broad categories of federal election crimes, the other two being campaign finance crimes and civil rights violations.

Electoral fraud is extremely rare in the United States and is often by accident. Mail-in voter fraud occurs more often than in-person voter fraud. In the last half-century, there have been only scattered examples of electoral fraud affecting the outcomes of United States elections, mostly on the local level. Electoral fraud was significantly more prevalent in earlier United States history, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and has long been a significant topic in American politics. False accusations of electoral fraud also have a long history, and since the 2016 and 2020 elections have often been associated with Donald Trump and the election denial movement in the United States.