Election officials push back against concerns over mail-in voting, drop boxes

Multiple top state election officials on Friday pushed back against recent concerns that the increase of mail-in voting could lead to a spike in voter fraud.

Officials from both sides of the aisle testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee during a hearing about protecting the upcoming elections.

“We actually have now conducted three elections this year alone with a full right to vote-by-mail with more citizens voting by mail than ever before and with zero reports or evidence of fraud,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) testified during the hearing.

Benson testified alongside Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams (R), who said that mail-in voting in his state had jumped during the primaries.

“I am very pleased to say that our election this year was clean, I did have some concerns about going from about 2 percent absentee balloting to what we ended up with, which was about 75 percent,” Adams said.

He noted that while there had been “isolated incidents” of voter fraud in Kentucky over the past several decades, the state had implemented a series of best practices that ensured officials were “vigilant” for fraud during the elections. He also pointed to concerns over his elderly grandparents voting in-person and risking COVID-19 transmission.

“I think all these things being equal, I think voting in person is the gold standard, but we are in unique times and we have got to acclimate to them,” Adams testified.

Benson and Adams’s comments came on the heels of weeks of concerns that mail-in voting could lead to a spike in voter fraud. President Trump also suggested delaying the election over these concerns.