West Virginia ー Absentee Voting runs the risk of voter fraud in the 2020 Primary Election

After 1.2 million registered voters in West Virginia should have or will receive absentee ballot applications in the mail, there is a new concern regarding voting in West Virginia: voter fraud.

Secretary of State of West Virginia Andrew “Mac” Warner announced all registered West Virginia voters will receive absentee ballot applications to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Voting absentee will keep West Virginia voters safe and healthy, while also upholding our democracy, but there is a risk of voter fraud. 

There is an increased likelihood that voter fraud could occur due to absentee voting. However, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner said that voter fraud will not be tolerated. He defines voter fraud as someone trying to cast two votes or trying to help another individual with voting if they do not need help. Secretary of State of West Virginia Mac Warner gave the following statement regarding the potential for voting fraud:

We want everyone to be sensitized to it we don't want any shenanigans going on we don't want anyone taking advantage of the increased absentee ballot process. 

To combat any “irregularities” signatures will be triple check for accuracy because the voting process requires a signature on the application, the ballot and on the voter's registration.

The ultimate weapon to combat voter fraud will be prosecuting individuals suspected of committing voter fraud, which will help determined whether or not a vote is legitimate and if the vote should be counted or not.

While voter fraud is a legitimate concern but it is the risk West Virginia has to take since the alternative puts the lives of West Virginia residents at risk due to COVID-19. There is always a risk of voter fraud in any election whether in-person or absentee voting and there is a greater risk of fraudulent voting with online voting.

Online voting is still its infancy. Only a few states have experimented with online voting on a limited basis and one of those states is West Virginia, who let overseas residents and troops vote via mobile devices in the 2018 federal election. However, as previously mentioned, online voting runs the risk of voter fraud because states are facing budget limitations and they can’t spend money on cybersecurity as well as technology that is needed is currently unavailable to build a wide-scale online voting system that supports both a secret ballot and auditable elections.

To learn more about Absentee Voting in West Virginia follow this link