Computational Policy Lab
Debunking claims of double voting
Prominent officials have alleged that millions of people vote twice in presidential elections, calling into question the bedrock of democratic governance. Past investigations have found no indication of widespread voter fraud, but critics argue that it’s simply hard to detect.
In the most comprehensive study of voter fraud to date, we examined over 100 million voting records for the 2012 presidential election. We found that double voting is exceedingly rare. We further found that one popular effort to prevent double voting — the Interstate Crosscheck Program — can in practice burden hundreds of legitimate voters for every double vote prevented.
To learn more, see our scientific paper, read our op-ed in Slate, or listen to an in-depth discussion of our work on This American Life.
