During our last presidential election, there were numerous concerns about false votes or miscalculations. Without getting political, we can say this is a concern as well with the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. With mail-in voting, absentee ballots, impersonation, and false registrations, there are multiple ways that this election could skew one way or another. Again, keeping personal politics out of this, this is a huge concern for the country in the current conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article 2: Federal\nElection Crimes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Voter Fraud is a\nterm that \u201ccovers many actions, from casting illegitimate ballots to vote\nbuying to impersonating a voter,\u201d as stated in an article by Voice of America (VOAnews.com<\/a>.)\nWhile this covers a wide array of things, there is no one definition that is\nagreed upon across the globe (VOAnews.com<\/a>.)\nThere are many subcategories of Voter Fraud, and then there are those that\nconstitute the term \u201cFederal Election Offenses.\u201d According to the FBI, Federal\nElection Offenses fall into three different categories: fraud by the voter,\nfraud by an elections\/campaign official or other individual and then campaign\nfinance crimes (FBI.gov<\/a>.)\n Now, on the flipside, and only varying\nslightly, three different categories come from the US Government site. The\nfirst category is one that involves the candidates. Campaign finance crimes\ninclude situations where the candidate for office receives funding that is in\nviolation of the permitted amounts or donors as stated under the law. Secondly,\nthere is a civil rights violation that involves tactics such as intimidation,\ncoercion threats and other things that suppress a person\u2019s ability to hit the\npolls and cast his or her vote. Finally, there is voter fraud and voter\nregistration fraud. This a serious concern and not something anyone thinks of\nbut includes the casting of illegal votes under multiple circumstances. It\u2019s\nsomething we all need to be aware of and understand just how this can occur (usa.gov<\/a>). Let\u2019s combine\nthe two and provide details to ensure you understand what exactly governs a\nFederal Election Crime or Offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Election Crimes\nvs. Federal Crimes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all Election Crimes\nare considered Federal Crimes; however, there are some cases in which this\nreigns true. If officials of either an election or polling place abuses their\noffice, if ballots have more than one federal candidate on them, if some falsely\nregisters as a voter or if an activity violates Federal Campaign Finance laws,\nthen this constitutes a Federal Crime (FBI.gov<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Campaign\nFinance Crimes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nFEC places enforcements on candidate campaigns and their finances (fec.gov<\/a>). If anyone\ncontributes above the legal limit to one campaign or another, this constitutes\nan offense (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nIn an article from TIME magazine, the Vice President of Policy & Litigation\nat Common Cause states that \u201cthe difference between a campaign finance violation\nthat is a crime and a campaign finance violation is a civil matter is whether\nthe action was taking knowingly and willfully,\u201d (time.com<\/a>).\nThere is a fine line between the two, but a world of difference in the repercussions.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nFederal Election Campaign Act prohibits certain parties, such as foreign nationals,\nnational banks and corporations, from donating to any party or candidate (transition.fec.gov<\/a>).\nWhile these parties are not allowed to provide donations in any way, there are\nother groups who have stipulations on their donations. For anyone under the age\nof 18, they\u2019re allowed to donate so long as they are knowing of where their\nmoney is going and are doing so voluntarily and under no coercion (FEC.gov<\/a>).\nIn the same article, it states that minors must be using their own money:\nwhether it be on hand or from a trust in which they are the beneficiary. Under\nno circumstances are minors allowed to accept money from another individual or\ngroup and donate it on their behalf \u2013 this constitutes bigger problems. Certain\nLLC companies and partnerships are allowed to donate under strict guidelines that\ndictate which types of these companies are eligible to donate (FEC.gov<\/a>).\nVisit the FEC\nwebsite<\/a> for other groups that are or are not allowed to donate to Federal\nCampaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving along with\nfinance crimes, another situation that causes problems is conduit\ncontributions, or straw donor schemes (FEC.gov<\/a>).\nThis is a situation where people will contribute to a campaign and then receive\nreimbursement for the funds donated (FEC.gov<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no situation\nthat would allow for campaign funds to be used for personal or unauthorized use\n(FBI.gov<\/a>).\nWhat constitutes personal use? The FEC provides the \u201cirrespective test\u201d to\ndetermine the legitimacy of use of funds (FEC.gov<\/a>).\nWhen taking this test, personal use is defined as anything that would exist \u201cirrespective\u201d\nof a campaign or the responsibilities that come along with holding a federal\noffice (FEC.gov<\/a>).\nThis includes any expense, obligation or commitment that would be existent whether\na campaign was occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mail-In\nVoting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2020\nhas been a year unlike any other, and the election is no different. Many people\nare choosing to mail in their ballots as opposed to going to the polls, but the\nissues that could come from this are serious and should not be taken lightly.\nAccording to the New\nYork Post<\/a>, all proceeding information was divulged in an interview with an unnamed\nsource. the primary election caused more than 80,000 New York Mail-In votes to\nbe thrown out simply due to problems with filling out the form properly. In the\nsame article, this unnamed source came forth to share just how real voter fraud\nis: he has been a part of it himself and caused votes to be swayed one way or the\nother. Political pros have no problem going through the voting process and\nfixing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nforms that are sent to people for mail-in voting are easy to copy and forge.\nThere is no specific quality that makes it stand apart from any copies, and\nthis is where the trouble begins. Without having a marker, no one will be able\nto tell if the ballot is true and valid, so people capitalize on this and make multiple\ncopies and fill them out with the candidate or candidates of their choice and\nproceed as if nothing is amiss. While the actual ballot form is no problem to duplicate,\nthe envelopes they are to be mailed back in are what causes the trouble with\nsuccessfully committing voter fraud. The tipster about voter fraud from the New\nYork Post stated that he and other people like him would go door to door and\nconvince people that they were able to mail the ballots in for them and \u201csave\nthem the trouble,\u201d but in reality, they did this simply to get the valid\nenvelopes. They would then unseal the envelope and put that fake ballot in and then\nreseal it and ship it off. This is something that, though time-consuming, it\ndefinitely is a concern that everyone needs to keep in mind when it comes time\nto mail in ballots if you choose to forgo the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraud\nby Voter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nare a multitude of situations that can be considered Fraud by Voter. One of\nthese is Voter Impersonation. Voter Impersonation is a situation that, while\nnot extremely common, exists here and there. While it is not a major issue, it\nis a problem that needs to be considered simply to broaden your knowledge. There\nare different routes that can be considered Voter Impersonation. You can vote\nmore than once or by using someone else\u2019s name (FBI.gov). Certain states, at\npolling sites, do not require any ID from the person waiting to vote. This can\nlead to people \u201cfaking\u201d responses, or in some cases, like one in Wisconsin, people\ncan register at multiple different locations and vote more than once in an\nelection (The\nWashington Post<\/a>). ID does not prevent this from happening. ID is a\npreventative measure to prevent people from having one person show up to cast\nmore than one vote. In four states that have some of the strictest ID laws, in\ngeneral elections, there have been a reported 3000 cases of that have been\nrejected due to lack of ID (The\nWashington Post<\/a>). It is unsure if these were fraudulent or not; however, it\u2019s\na possibility. There always the flipside of things where legitimate voters could\u2019ve\nbeen turned away, but at the time of the article, it was not positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\nside of this is voting when you\u2019re ineligible to vote. Whether you are not\nregistered to vote or not a US citizen, if you show up to vote, this is considered\nfraudulent (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nIf you \u201cregister\u201d to vote by using and providing false information, this again\nis considered Fraud by Voter (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nIf you register to vote, which you should, providing accurate and up to date\ninformation is of the utmost importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraud by\nOfficials or Other Individuals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraud can be committed\nby any elections or campaign official as well as other individuals. Elections officials\ncan commit this type of fraud by changing the tally of ballots or by any other\nbehavior that can be considered \u201ccorruptive\u201d (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nIf a voter is provided with anything of value, be it monetary or other, in exchange\nfor providing their support and vote to a specific candidate or party, this is\nconsidered fraudulent because it stacks the odds in the favor of the party or candidate\nproviding the value (FBI.gov<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other forms of\nFraud by Officials or Individuals include threats of violence or financial harm\nif votes are not cast for a certain part or candidate in a federal election (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nThese threats are considered to be fraud because fear is being instilled in the\nvoter and in order to protect the health and well-being of both the individual\nand their family, they will do what they need to in order to stay safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, if someone lies about the\nspecifics of the election polls, i.e. the date, time or location, this is\nconsidered Voter Suppression and qualifies as fraudulent behavior (FBI.gov<\/a>).\nVoter Suppression is defined as \u201cany effort, either legal or illegal, by way of\nthe laws, administrative rules and\/or tactics that prevents eligible voters\nfrom registering to vote or voting\u201d (demandthevote.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal vs. State Election Crimes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a difference between Federal\nElection Crimes and each individual state. Each state has its own election laws\nand you should research your state or contact local law enforcement if you have\nquestions or concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following are all examples\nthat do not categorize as federal election crimes: (FBI.gov<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n