History of courts finding voters using deceased person’s names in past presidential elections

 

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Recent U.S. elections have been rife with accusations of voter fraud – and in particular, claims that the names of dead persons are used to illegally obtain and cast ballots in favor of a certain candidate. But this type of voter fraud in U.S. is actually exceedingly rare as concluded by a number of studies, including research that was commissioned at the behest of Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.

A 2020 Stanford University analysis of 4.5 million voters in Washington state found just 14 cases of potential “deceased voter fraud” over an eight-year period, while an exhaustive AP analysis found fewer than 475 potential cases of voter fraud in six swing states challenged by Trump out of a combined total 25 million votes. 

Other organizations, including the conservative Heritage Foundation, found just 1,500 total cases of voter fraud over a 40-year period, mostly due to mistakes.

Court cases involving “deceased voter fraud” are almost nonexistent, though one Pennsylvania Trump supporter pleaded guilty in 2021 to using his dead mother’s name to vote in the 2020 election.