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.<\/p>\n
Officials from both sides of the aisle testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee during a hearing about protecting the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) testified during the hearing.<\/p>\n
Benson testified alongside Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams (R), who said that mail-in voting in his state had jumped during the primaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n
He noted that while there had been \u201cisolated incidents\u201d of voter fraud in Kentucky over the past several decades, the state had implemented a series of best practices that ensured officials were \u201cvigilant\u201d for fraud during the elections. He also pointed to concerns over his elderly grandparents voting in-person and risking COVID-19 transmission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Adams testified.<\/p>\n