The number of Americans voting by mail in the national election on November 3 is expected to nearly double due to coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the United States harder than any other country in terms of the number of deaths and cases. But election experts see little reason to expect an increase in ballot fraud, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims.
Voting by mail is not new in the US – nearly one in four voters cast 2016 presidential ballots that way.
Routine methods and the decentralised nature of US elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots, experts say.
And while mail-in balloting does have its drawbacks, it can help minimise the long lines at polling sites, faulty voting machines and COVID-19-induced staffing shortages that have already hindered some US elections this year.
How secure is it?
Election experts say it would be nearly impossible for foreign actors to disrupt an election by mailing out fake ballots, a scenario floated by Attorney General William Barr.
For one thing, voters will not just be selecting a president: they might be choosing candidates for city council, school board and weighing in on ballot initiatives. That can require hundreds of different ballot designs in a single county and the US has more than 3,000 counties.