President Donald Trump has launched an intensive attack on the integrity of voting by mail, sowing doubt in the upcoming election as states grapple with the challenge of conducting balloting in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has declared that the 2020 election will be the most rigged and corrupt election of all time thanks to voting-by-mail options.

The president has gone as far as to suggest delaying the election because of it, an idea rejected by leaders of his own party.

The attacks on voting by mail, which have been echoed by some fellow Republicans, have stirred concern among state and local election officials who say the accusations are unfounded and damaging to the institution.

“Voting by mail is safe, secure and accurate,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a member of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's cabinet. “There were no reports of fraud in the primary.”

Deborah Olivieri, director of the Berks County Election Services, feels the same way. And she said the claims being lodged by the president are disrespectful to those who work hard to ensure the election is legitimate.

“Our workers should be commended versus being insulted,” she said. “It’s just hurtful that something like that could be said considering everything that we do to conduct an election.”

'Done it safely' 

Boockvar pointed out that voting by mail is not a new concept in the commonwealth, noting that voters have had the opportunity to cast absentee ballots for decades.

“We’ve done it safely, we’ve done it securely and we’ve done it accurately,” she said. “And that is thanks to the provisions we have in place that require eligibility checking on both the front end and back end of the process.”

Boockvar said she takes attacks on the system like those lobbed by the president seriously.

“Any misinformation and disinformation has the power to really minimize people’s confidence in the election,” she said. “We have been dealing with this for the last two years more than we ever have before. This is something we have to constantly be fighting.”

Studies have shown that all forms of voting fraud are extremely rare.

A report released by the nonpartisan Brennan Center For Justice found that most allegations of fraud turn out to be baseless and that most of the few remaining allegations reveal clerical errors or other other forms of election misconduct.

In fact, a commission that Trump had charged with investigating voter fraud following the 2016 presidential election was disbanded in 2018 after finding no real evidence of corruption.

Trump has even acknowledged he has cast absentee ballots.

And he’s not alone.

More than a dozen other members of his administration have voted by mail, including Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William Barr, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, first lady Melania Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump.

A popular choice

Allowing Pennsylvania voters to submit their ballots by mail is new this year. It was one of several changes included in a historic election reform bill signed into law last fall designed by state lawmakers to increase access to the ballot box.

The introduction of widespread voting by mail in the Keystone State proved to be popular among voters in the June primary due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In Berks County and Pennsylvania, the election marked the first time in modern history that more ballots were cast by mail than at polling locations.

The county received 50% of ballots by mail and recorded 48% of ballots that were cast on voting machines. Those figures were in line with what was seen at the state level with 51% of votes coming by mail and 47% votes cast in person.

Those results were no coincidence.

County and state election officials worked for months before the election to inform the public about the option — particularly in light of the ongoing public health emergency.

“Once the pandemic proved to be as serious as it was, we realized that we needed to keep people safe while also ensuring that their access to democracy was protected,” Boockvar said. “We felt very strongly that people should have a choice.”

'People take an oath'

Berks County Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt, who serves as chairman of the county elections board, said he believes these allegations are part of a nationwide voter suppression effort.

“There are no facts to back up claims that voting by mail leads to widespread fraud,” said Barnhardt, a Democrat. “I think this is just a desperate attempt by a desperate man to undermine the election. There are five states that have had voting by mail for decades without problems.”

Barnhardt said public officials should be pushing for policies that would make it easier for people to vote rather than sowing doubt about the institution.

“If you are proud of your accomplishments and proud of your work, then you should want everyone who is eligible to vote to have their opinion heard on whether you deserve that position,” he said. “I hope that we have 100% turnout each election.”

He said he takes these claims of fraud personally because they call into question the integrity of those in the county elections office who work to ensure the voting process is secure and accurate.

“People take an oath to do this work,” he said. “It’s just shameful to admonish these people who are working so tirelessly to pull off this Herculean effort while in the middle of this public health crisis.”

Olivieri said it’s important voters understand there’s a meticulous system of safeguards in place to ensure that ballots are legitimate.

One of those safeguards is the signature of the voter on the ballot, which is matched to the signature on a valid Pennsylvania identification card or on the application for the ballot.

“There are a whole bunch of safeguards in place that this office checks,” she said. “If we would get ballots that never came out of here or if we never sent a ballot to someone who returns one, we would know something was wrong right away.”

Congressional perspective

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan said there is no evidence to support these claims, citing a study by the conservative Heritage Foundation which shows few instances of voter fraud over the past two decades.

The Chester County Democrat, who represents the congressional district that includes Reading and many southern communities in Berks, said she wants to stress that there is strong bipartisan consensus on the need to expand mail voting.

“There are many states that have been voting by mail for a long time successfully, so there really isn’t any foundation to say this method is fraught with fraud and there isn’t any foundation to say it favors one party over the other,” she said.

Houlahan said she remains focused on ways she can help at the federal level to make sure the counties she represents have the resources they need to make sure the November election runs smoothly.

That may mean sending money to help purchase equipment to count the ballots as quickly as possible and advocating for additional funding to the U.S. Postal Service, which has been experiencing backlogs after the agency put in place new procedures described as cost-cutting efforts.

Congressman Dan Meuser said voter fraud may not be common but it still happens.

“Submitting a fraudulent vote is, literally, stealing a vote,” he said. “And the potential for fraud is going to be higher because of how many mail-in ballots we are going to see this election.”

The Luzerne County Republican, who represents an expansive congressional district that includes most of northern and eastern Berks as well as parts of seven other counties, has even introduced legislation to address the issue.

Meuser said the legislation would send a clear warning to anyone thinking of tampering with mailed ballots that they will be subject to significant penalties. It's unclear where the bill is in the legislative process.

The Stop Mail-In Voter Fraud Act would:

• Increase penalties for mail fraud from 20 to 30 years in prison; for the use of fictitious information to request or complete a mailed ballot from 5 to 10 years; and for the submission of a fraudulent ballot from 5 to 10 years.

• Direct the attorney general to establish a nationwide hotline and online portal to report fraudulent ballots.

• Require courts to notify the secretary of state in their jurisdiction and the attorney general about any individuals recused from jury service on grounds of noncitizenship.

Meuser said he thinks the likelihood of voter fraud is higher in the eight states that will automatically send ballots to all registered voters, not just those who ask for them.

“Some people who may own rental properties, for instance, are getting four different ballots for four different people who may have lived there over the past several years,” he said. “That process opens the door to errors.”

He said Pennsylvania seems to be doing things the right way by requiring voters to apply for ballots.

“I feel confident in the system we have in place here,” he said. “It’s amazing how well they have done in the past, and this bill will help them by further deterring anyone from even attempting to commit fraud.”