Electoral fraud
Illegal interference with election processes to alter outcomes.
Last updated
Electoral fraud, also known as voter fraud, election manipulation, election scam, vote rigging, or election stealing, involves illegal interference with the process of an election. It can increase the vote share of a favored candidate, depress the vote share of rival candidates, or both, and differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What constitutes electoral fraud varies by country, though the goal is often election subversion.
Quick Facts
- Also known as
- Voter fraud
- election manipulation
- election scam
- vote rigging
- election stealing
- Common forms
- Voter impersonation
- double voting
- ballot stuffing
- tampering with voting machines
- fraudulent registration
- Related concept
- Voter suppression
- Potential effect
- Can have the effect of a coup d'état
- protest
- or corruption of democracy
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Electoral fraud can occur in advance of voting if the composition of the electorate is altered, such as by artificially moving voters into a district or disenfranchising certain groups. For example, authorities may temporarily assign land or lodging to voters, or use public housing to concentrate or relocate voters to influence election results. Immigration law has also been used to manipulate electoral demography, as in the case of Malaysia granting citizenship and suffrage to immigrants from neighboring countries to dominate a state.
Reader's Guide
Electoral fraud undermines democratic processes and can reduce voters' confidence in democracy even if the outcome is not affected. In national elections, successful fraud on a sufficient scale can have the effect of a coup d'état.
Laws against electoral fraud vary: in the U.S., states prosecute forms such as voter impersonation and double voting, while the federal government prosecutes voter intimidation and bribery. In France, penalties include fines and imprisonment for up to one year, or two years for public officials. The term is sometimes used for acts that are legal but considered morally unacceptable, such as sham elections with only one candidate.
Did You Know?
- Preferential voting systems such as score voting and single transferable vote can reduce the impact of systemic electoral manipulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Electoral fraud?
Electoral fraud refers to any illegal interference with an election's process, whether that means inflating a favored candidate's tally, suppressing a rival's share, or both. It is also commonly called voter fraud, vote rigging, election manipulation, or election stealing, and its ultimate aim is often the subversion of a legitimate electoral outcome.
What are the most common forms of Electoral fraud?
Frequently cited methods include voter impersonation, casting multiple ballots (double voting), stuffing ballot boxes, tampering with voting machines, and fraudulent voter registration. These tactics can appear individually or in combination to skew results in a particular direction.
How does Electoral fraud differ from voter suppression?
Voter suppression focuses on preventing eligible citizens from reaching the polls or having their votes counted, whereas electoral fraud directly manipulates the counting or recording of votes that do get cast. In practice the two often overlap, but they target different stages of the electoral pipeline.
Why is Electoral fraud a central topic in political-systems discussions?
Because it strikes at the core mechanism through which citizens transfer power, its presence or perception can delegitimize an entire regime and destabilize democratic institutions. Understanding its forms, legal boundaries, and relationship to related abuses like voter suppression is essential for anyone analyzing how elections function or fail in practice.
More in Political Systems & Elections
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Electoral fraud (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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