The illegal interference with the process of an election, through acts such as casting more than one vote, impersonating another voter, tampering with ballots or vote counts, coercing or bribing voters, or falsifying voter registration records, carried out with the intent to alter the outcome of an election or undermine confidence in its result. Most democracies criminalize a range of specific conduct under this general heading through dedicated election law rather than the general criminal code, and the offense is distinguished from voter suppression and other forms of election interference that may not themselves involve a direct falsification of votes or the electoral process, though the boundary between the two is often contested in specific cases.
Facts
Typical PenaltyIn the United States penalties vary widely by state and can include fines, imprisonment, loss of voting rights, and disqualification from holding public office 1 Elements of OffenseIllegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both 1 Notable Example2018 Russian presidential election, with multiple instances of voters and polling staff stuffing ballot boxes 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Electoral fraud (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph, first sentence
Electoral fraud, also known as voter fraud, and sometimes referred to as election manipulation, election scam, vote rigging, or election stealing, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both.
Law section, state election offenses
Penalties vary widely by state and can include fines, imprisonment, loss of voting rights, and disqualification from holding public office.
Ballot stuffing section, 2018 Russian presidential election
During the 2018 Russian presidential election, there were multiple instances, some caught on camera, throughout Russia of voters and polling staff alike stuffing multiple votes in the ballot box.
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