Election officials from dozens of states dispute President Trump's claim mail-in voting will result in rampant fraud
The president and attorney general continue to push mail-in voting fraud claims.
Elections officials in dozens of states are standing firm in expressing confidence that they'll be able to effectively carry out expanded mail-in voting in November, despite President Trump's repeated claims of rampant voter fraud -- made without providing evidence -- that some argued could significantly undermine confidence in the results of the election.
"President Donald Trump has a long track record of false and misinformed statements about voting and elections, including his recent remarks about mail voting," said Alex Curtas, a communications director for New Mexico's secretary of state's office. "Ballot tracking, intelligent barcodes, identity verification, post-election audits, and the fact that there are severe criminal and civil penalties already in place (which makes any attempt at vote tampering a high-risk, low-reward endeavor) all combine to ensure that mail-in voting is a trusted way for voters to make their voices heard."
"It's not helpful because in a time where people already have low trust in the system, do we really need more misinformation promoting a lack of trust?" said David Lublin, an elections expert and professor at American University in Washington, D.C. "Voter fraud has not been a widespread problem in the United States. It's just not remotely a widespread problem that, in fact, usually when claims are made, the more they're investigated the more they disappear."
As many states ramp up their preparations for significant expansions to vote-by-mail in the fall amid voter concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC News reached out to elections authorities in all 50 states for their assessment of Trump's claims.
Of nearly 30 secretaries of state and elections board offices who provided on-the-record responses, none expressed doubts in their state's ability to protect the integrity of their elections this November. Many states cited unique security protocols tailored to their own electoral systems to root out and detect potential fraudulent activity, including measures like signature verification software, registration vetting, and ballots with bar codes unique to registered voters.
Several offices either didn't immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment or declined to comment for the story for other reasons. Twenty-three offices did not respond to repeated inquiries via email and phone. None responded on background.
And while both Trump, who has long made unfounded suggestions about voter fraud, and Attorney General William Barr have repeatedly speculated in public appearances and interviews about mail-in voting being easily susceptible to fraud, none of the election officials who responded to ABC's inquiries said they had been contacted by the Trump administration regarding such concerns.
In response to ABC's inquiry, a White House official referred to a series of threads on Twitter from press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and the communications office's Rapid Response account which highlight stories regarding absentee ballot issues or criminal charges that have been filed against officials for voter fraud.
In 2017, Trump established a voter fraud commission to bolster his baseless allegations that he lost the 2016 popular vote because millions voted illegally, but the commission disbanded in January 2018, finding no evidence of widespread fraud after many states refused to comply with the commission's requests for voter information.
Several Republican secretaries of state reached by ABC did echo the president in expressing their concerns about how other states might carry out expanded vote-by-mail and what safeguards they would implement, but did not provide evidence showing which state systems might be vulnerable to the kind of mass fraud alleged by Trump.
The president and other supporters of his voter fraud accusations have often sought to contrast absentee ballots, which are transmitted by mail from voters who request them, and all-mail voting, where all registered voters in a state automatically receive ballots and either mail them in or drop them off at designated polling locations.
"You'll have tremendous fraud if you do these mail-in ballots," Trump said in a Rose Garden press conference Tuesday. "Now, absentee ballots are okay, because absentee ballots, you have to get applications, you have to go through a process."
Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington already conduct all-mail elections where ballots are sent to registered voters, and while the states reported seeing isolated cases of fraud none have described widespread or coordinated instances at levels greater than most other non-all-mail voting states. 29 other states separately offer "no-excuse" absentee voting, in which any registered voter can request a mail-in ballot without having to provide a reason. The remaining 16 require voters to provide some kind of excuse to request absentee ballot.
Leaders in multiple states have sought to encourage citizens to utilize the 'no-excuse' absentee voting leading up to November with the anticipation of a potential surge of COVID-19 cases afflicting the country.
Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced in May that 7.7 million ballot applications would be mailed out to all state registered voters, with Benson arguing "we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote."
Trump, then threatened to withhold federal funding from the state, after initially claiming falsely that 7.7 million "ballots" were mailed to voters.
In an exclusive interview last week, ABC News asked Barr about the responses from state elections officials and said his concern was states whose entire election systems are based on vote-by-mail.
"I'm not talking about those onesies and twosies or what have you," Barr said. "I think the states have a lot of latitude as to what form of voting they're gonna have. I'm expressing concern over voter fraud and I do think it increases the opportunity for fraud."
Several state officials did acknowledge that such a sudden shift to primarily vote-by-mail systems spurred by the pandemic does create increased potential for absentee ballot abuse, even as they expressed confidence they'd be able to guard against mass fraud.
Lublin in particular pointed to North Carolina's 9th Congressional District election in 2018 that was thrown into dispute after a Republican political operative and seven other alleged co-conspirators were charged with improperly collecting and tampering with absentee ballots.
John Conklin, a spokesperson for the New York Elections Board pointed to a history of prosecutions and investigations in the state of individuals charged with absentee fraud, some of which resulted in new restrictions to the system -- New York is among the states requiring voters to provide an excuse before casting an absentee ballot.
"My point is, there are cracks in the system," Conklin said. "Anyone who is knowledgeable about those cracks can exploit them. Is it rampant? I don't think so, but it's not non-existent."
Both Barr and Trump have pointed specifically to reports of alleged fraud in a special election in Paterson, New Jersey, this past May, where several city officials have faced voter fraud charges and the county elections board rejected nearly 20 percent of mail-in ballots submitted.
Election security experts have argued that the Paterson election, by contrast, shows that safeguards to protect against fraud actually worked effectively given the alleged fraud was quickly reported out to state officials.
The state has said the nearly 3,300 ballots that were rejected were either because signatures on ballots didn't match voters' signatures on file or because of issues with sections being filled out improperly by those submitting the ballots on the voters' behalf -- thus making it unclear what percentage might be related to attempted "fraud." The New Jersey secretary of state's office declined to comment on Barr and Trump's comments when asked by ABC News -- citing the ongoing law enforcement investigation into the Paterson election.
A separate theory floated by Trump and Barr argues that foreign actors might seek to flood the United States with fraudulent ballots this November seeking to sway the election in a particular way.
However neither has provided evidence or intelligence to support this theory, and multiple state officials told ABC such an effort would likely be easy to detect given the strict safeguards in place for mail-in ballots, such as signature verification, identifying markers that vary from county to county, and even the different sizes, colors and weights of ballots in order to prevent possible forgery.
"It's just incredibly implausible that a foreign actor could pull of successfully what the president and the attorney general suggests," Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told ABC News. "It's all incredibly far fetched and I do think that the President talking about it is a form of misinformation and disinformation to further corrode confidence in our election. And unfortunately, he's really opening the door to a foreign country attempting to do that and failing."
What the states said
Alabama: Excuse required for absentee ballots
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told ABC News that while he believes the way Alabama will carry out its own election is secure, he does believe that voting by mail has been susceptible to fraud in other states.
"We believe that vote-by-mail, direct vote by mail efforts that have been introduced in other states are very susceptible to voter fraud at the highest level. We don't just say that because we believe that that's an inefficient and ineffective way to try to get people to vote, we say it based on information has been revealed to us," Merrill said.
He cited a case where 83 ballots were sent to a home in California, but the ballots were sent there due to a computer glitch not because of an illegal scheme to vote, according to a Snopes fact check.
Merrill noted Alabama allows people to vote absentee but with restrictions, and said that the absentee balloting process has been open for more than 100 days.
Although he hasn't spoken to the president or attorney general about the vote-by-mail process personally, Merrill said he has raised his concerns to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Alaska: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Arizona: No-excuse absentee voting
Arizona Secretary of State public information officer Sophia Solis told ABC News that the "majority of voters in Arizona already vote by mail, and we anticipate even more voters opting to do so given the current public health circumstances. The counties are equipped to process these ballots efficiently and it would not take additional resources to process an increased number of ballots by mail."
Solis said in Arizona "counties utilize tamper-evident envelopes for mailed ballots and voters can verify whether their mail ballot has been sent to them and whether it has been received and accepted by the county after it has been mailed back," she continued. "Ballot drop-off locations and drop-boxes must comply with security requirements and procedures outlined in the Elections Procedures Manual.
She also said ballots go through "a rigorous signature verification process conducted by trained election officials. Arizona law imposes severe criminal penalties for ballot tampering, vote buying, or discarding someone else's ballot."
Solis said that every ballot is: tracked and audited before and after every election, stored in a secure area with limited access and tracked in a secure database, tabulated with machines that must pass a logic and accuracy test by the county before and after each election and a sample of these machines are also tested by the Secretary of State's Office before each election.
She also said that the Trump administration has not been in contact with the Arizona secretary of state's office regarding any concerns about mail-in voting.
Arkansas: Excuse required for absentee ballots
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
California: No excuse absentee voting
Sam Mahood, press secretary for the secretary of state, said "voting-by-mail has been used extensively in red, blue, and purple states -- including California -- safely and securely for years," and added, "The president's comments only serve as an attempt to undermine faith in our democracy and set up attacks on any election results he does not like this fall.'
Mahood said that in California, every vote-by-mail ballot is checked by county elections officials before it is counted, verifying the voter's signature and that they did not cast a ballot elsewhere. Counties (who design, print, mail, and count ballots) have unique ballot designs using specific paper types. Each vote-by-mail ballot comes with a unique return envelope. County elections officials also check the voter's signature on the vote-by-mail return envelope with the voter's signature on their registration record. If the signature is missing or does not match, the elections officials attempt to contact the voter. If the voter cannot provide a missing/updated signature, the ballot is not counted.
Californians can sign up to receive automatic updates on the status of their vote-by-mail ballots by text, email, or voice call. Voters can have confidence their ballot was received and counted. Voters can sign up on the secretary of state's website.
Mahood also says that the Trump administration hasn't been in contact with his office.
Colorado: All-mail elections
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told ABC News that the state's vote-by-mail system was passed in Colorado with bipartisan support.
"It's hands down the most secure and accessible way to vote at any time, but more especially is the best way to vote during a pandemic," she said.
"Here in Colorado all of our ballots are printed domestically, and they are safe and secure, even to the extent that not only the Washington Post said that we are the safest state to cast a ballot and today," Griswold said. "It's just incredibly implausible that a foreign actor could pull off successfully what the president and the attorney general suggests, it would be really difficult because we have security precautions in place, including making sure that we do signature verification."
Griswold said that "we should also be concerned about the president using a pandemic to suppress voter turnout and his misinformation and disinformation comments on mail ballots. Mail ballots are incredibly secure."
She added that Colorado has a history of having "clean" elections and has not heard from anyone in the administration or DOJ about mail voting fraud.
Connecticut: Excuse required for absentee ballots but relaxed restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic
Gabe Rosenberg, the communications director for Connecticut secretary of state told ABC News that Connecticut's absentee ballot process "isn't changing" from what the state normally does.
"The only difference is that more voters are eligible," Rosenberg said. "For example, like every year this process is managed by local election officials in our 169 towns (each town as a town clerk and one registrar from each party), only voters who specifically request an absentee ballot will be sent one, only active registered voters are eligible to vote, and every absentee ballot has a unique identifier given by the local town clerk to an individual voter."
Rosenberg says that the federal CARES Act stimulus money "actually enables more protections. By allowing us to contract with an experienced mail house, absentee ballot envelopes will have a bar code on them for tracking purposes and will be sent on a rolling basis from a central location rather than from the towns."
Rosenberg also slammed the Trump administration for the claims made about mail in ballots. "Although this president has consistently made farcical claims about voter fraud, without providing a shred of evidence to support his claims, he also has repeatedly voted by absentee ballot, as has this attorney general," Rosenberg said.
The administration has not been in touch with the Secretary of State's office on the topic, Rosenberg said.
Delaware: Excuse required for absentee ballots but relaxed restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic
Anthony Albence, the Delaware state election commissioner told ABC News that he believes the state will not be susceptible to mass voter fraud and they "are confident in the procedural safeguards we have in place."
Albence says that the state hasn't been contacted by the Trump administration.
Florida: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Georgia: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Hawaii: All-mail voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Idaho: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Illinois: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Indiana: Excuse required for absentee ballot
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Iowa: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Kansas: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Kentucky: Excuse required for absentee ballot
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Louisiana: Excuse required for absentee ballot
Tyler Brey, the press secretary for the Louisiana secretary of state told ABC News that "though our office made some adjustments for the spring elections due to COVID-19, we have full confidence in our system because of the strong election integrity procedures already in place."
He said the changes to the system under COVID are "slight expansions of practices and procedures already being done in Louisiana." For instance, people requesting an absentee ballot "must provide personal identifying information, including the last four digits of the voter's Social Security Number, and mother's maiden name; information already on file with the registrar of voters, and known only to the voter," Brey said.
"Secretary [Kyle] Ardoin has huge concerns over a universal vote-by-mail and opposes reckless expansions of vote-by-mail in Louisiana," though such expansions have not occurred.
Maine: No-excuse absentee voting
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told ABC News that Maine doesn't employ a universal vote-by-mail system in the state, but expressed confidence in the security of its no-excuse absentee voting system, saying the two systems are not alike.
"Firstly, in VBM [vote-by-mail], ballots are sent out on a schedule with no request required by the voter. In absentee balloting, the voter initiates the request (under Maine law, anyway) and no one else can do that for them; further, we only send ballots to people who request them, not all voters," Dunlap said.
After the application is completed, "the ballot is accounted for and sent by mail (or by designated third-party pickup, or the voter themselves); the voter receives it, marks it, and returns it to the election official after signing the back of the envelope, and it must be returned by 8 pm on election night; we don't allow for delayed delivery with postmarks as verifiers," Dunlap explained via email.
Dunlap said Maine saw a "100% increase" in requests for absentee ballots around its July 14 primary and "we've encouraged that, as it will diminish crowds at the polling stations," Dunlap said. "We still have election day registration, and folks can also request absentee ballots up to and including Election Day."
He says that Maine has a "very strict chain of events" has in place to prevent "anyone other than the voter from intercepting or marking the ballot without our discovery. The integrity of the system is about as strong as we can make it."
Dunlap said that he's "heard nothing from the Trump administration or anyone else in the Federal government regarding our conduct of Maine elections or any concerns they have with any process."
Maryland: No-excuse absentee voting
A Maryland Board of Election spokesperson told ABC News that "election officials in Maryland believe that a primarily vote-by-mail election can be conducted in a safe and secure way. Voters in Maryland have had the option to by mail for decades, and the safeguards in place to protect the process can be - and have been - expanded to an election conducted primarily by mail."
Massachusetts: Excuse required for absentee voting
Press secretary Debra O'Malley, with the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, told ABC News that "we do believe that voting by mail in Massachusetts will be secure, and we are in the process of putting in procedures to ensure that appropriate protections are in place."
She says that they have not been contacted by DOJ or the Trump Administration regarding their concerns about vote-by-mail.
Michigan: No-excuse absentee voting
A spokeswoman with the Michigan secretary of state's office told ABC News that the state won't be susceptible to rampant fraud with the expansion of mail in ballots. The spokeswoman also said they haven't heard from the Trump administration on the topic.
Minnesota: No-excuse absentee voting
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told ABC News that voting by mail is "tested, trusted and loved" in the state.
"Last election before anyone had even heard of COVID-19, 24% -- in 2018, of Minnesota voters voted in some form before election day, either in person absentee or voting from home," Simon said.
Simon said that he's urging Minnesotans to vote by mail to keep the polling places safe for those who have to visit the physical polling places on election day.
He said he's confident voting by mail will work and called comments from the president and attorney general "frustrating."
"I am quite confident that we get it right in Minnesota," Simon said.
He said when people go and register for a mail in ballot they have to provide some form of ID, whether it be a social security number or driver's license number, "and unless the ballot is returned with that same information, it will not be counted."
He says they haven't been contacted by the administration regarding their concerns about vote-by-mail.
Mississippi: Excuse required for absentee ballot
Assistant Secretary of State Kendra James told ABC News that the legislature proposed expanding the disability excuse for absentee voting to COVID. "In Mississippi, voters with a temporary or permanent disability can receive an absentee ballot in the mail. House Bill 1521 would allow Mississippians to vote by mail (VBM) via absentee ballot if they are under "a physician-imposed quarantine due to COVID-19 during the year 2020," she said.
The bill, which is awaiting the governor's signature, would also allow mail-in absentee ballots for voters who are "caring for a dependent under a physician-imposed quarantine due to COVID-19," James said.
She said that just a fraction -- "only three to four percent of Mississippians vote by mail via absentee ballots" and that "implementing a no-excuse, [vote-by-mail] system for the general election is not financially or logistically feasible."
"Our office believes VBM would lead to instances of voter fraud, such as forgery and ballot harvesting," she said.
The Trump administration has not contacted anyone at the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office about vote-by-mail concerns.
Missouri: Excuse required for absentee ballot
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told ABC News that while he believes the way Missouri plans to conduct its election in November will be secure, he shares the president's concerns about how other states have expanded vote-by-mail.
"I'm a big believer of people voting in person because that way not only is it safest from someone that would try to fraudulently do something but also that's the best way for you to know that your ballot -- the way you voted will actually count," Ashcroft said. "But having said that, the Missouri legislature passed a bill on the last day of session ... to expand absentee ballot use so that if you are 65 years of age or older, if you have continual liver disease, if you're on dialysis, if you have diabetes, if you have some pulmonary problems including asthma -- you can go ahead and vote absentee and you don't need to get that notarized."
Ashcroft added the bill also allows anyone who is a registered voter to request a mail-in ballot but that the ballot itself would have to be signed by a notary.
"I believe that that helps us with that integrity," Ashcroft said. "Is it ever as good to vote by mail as to vote in person? No, in-person is the gold standard. But the decision was made this year by the legislature that -- frankly I don't think it was necessary but was more done out of fear because I think people had concerns about voting in person, they changed the law to allow them to do this."
Ashcroft added, "I think people should feel safe and should feel they can have confidence in those elections, I do feel like it could mean we won't have election results as early as we normally do."
Asked about whether the Trump Administration has communicated its concerns about vote-by-mail to him directly, Ashcroft referred to regularly scheduled calls that the National Association of Secretaries of State holds where representative from DHS and the FBI sometimes speak, as well as his regular communications with Missouri's two U.S. attorneys.
Montana: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Nebraska: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Nevada: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
New Hampshire: Excuse required for absentee ballot
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
New Jersey: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
New Mexico: No-excuse absentee voting
Alex Curtas, the communications director for the New Mexico secretary of state's office, told ABC News that mail-in voting "is safe, secure, has been used for years" in the state and expressed confidence in the system leading up to the November election.
"President Trump has a long track record of false and misinformed statements about voting and elections, including his recent remarks about mail voting," Curtas said. "Ballot tracking, intelligent barcodes, identity verification, post-election audits, and the fact that there are severe criminal and civil penalties already in place (which makes any attempt at vote tampering a high-risk, low-reward endeavor) all combine to ensure that mail-in voting is a trusted way for voters to make their voices heard."
Curtas added that the White House has made no contact with the office regarding concerns about voter fraud.
New York: Excuse required for absentee ballot
Director of public information John Conklin said that "New York does have a history of problems with absentee ballot abuse," including a 2015 New York City Council race and another in 2010 in Troy, New York. Most of these have resulted in local boards of elections imposing restrictions on the number of absentee ballots an agent can request," he said. He also pointed to a prosecution by the Justice Department in 2017 an upstate man "who used false registrations to establish phony voters who would then apply for fraudulent absentee ballots to elect village officials who were favorable to his development agenda."
And in 2013, "The NYC Department of Investigation sent 63 investigators into the 2013 mayoral election with the express intention of impersonating deceased and imprisoned voters who had not yet been canceled. In 61 out of 63 attempts, their investigators were handed a ballot," he said.
"My point is, there are cracks in the system. Anyone who is knowledgeable about those cracks can exploit them. Is it rampant? I don't think so, but it's not non-existent. But they are only exposed when a voter finds out an absentee ballot was requested and cast for them without their knowledge. But the DOI effort was only known about because they issued a report about it. The only reason one of the investigators didn't get a ballot was because the poll inspector was the mother of the voter they were trying to impersonate," he said.
Conklin also said he is "not aware of any direct communication between our office and the administration."
North Carolina: No-excuse absentee voting
Patrick Gannon, a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections told ABC News that he doesn't believe an expansion of vote-by-mail in the state will endanger the integrity of the November election.
"Safeguards are ingrained in the absentee voting process," Gannon said. "Absentee ballots are sent only to registered voters who request them using an official state absentee ballot request form. The request must be signed and includes identifying information about the voter, including date of birth and driver's license number or last four digits of the voter's Social Security number. Voters must vote their ballot in the presence of a witness, and that witness must sign the absentee return envelope certifying that the voter marked their ballot and is the registered voter submitted the marked ballot."
Gannon added that the state has increased criminal penalties for those found to have committed absentee voting fraud, and expected that considering the myriad of safeguards any such attempts at fraud would be detected and dealt with swiftly.
"Many eyes are watching our absentee voting process, including candidates, political parties, county boards of elections, political and data scientists and everyday folks on the ground," Gannon said. "If there are anomalies or questionable activities, they will be reported to election officials. Finally, we have an Investigations Division at the State Board of Elections that investigates credible allegations of elections fraud and refers cases to prosecutors when warranted by the evidence."
Gannon said that the Trump administration has not reached out to the board to express any concerns about mail-in voting fraud.
North Dakota: No-excuse absentee voting
Al Jaeger, the secretary of state for North Dakota, told ABC News in a statement that he is "confident that North Dakota will handle the November election well regardless of the format or combination of voting options that might be utilized."
"North Dakota already has 33 out of its 53 counties vote by mail (it is a county by county option). On June 9, we had a statewide election that was entirely vote by mail in all 53 counties because of the COVID-19 situation and the Governor's Executive Order. It was successful and it was secure," Jaeger said. "In fact, voter turnout was 28% higher than the average of 9 out of the last 10 June elections over a span of 20 years."
Jaeger added that the Trump administration has not been in touch with his office regarding security concerns about mail-in voting.
Ohio: No-excuse absentee voting
Maggie Sheehan, the press secretary for the Ohio Secretary of State's office, told ABC News the office is "not concerned" about widespread voter fraud effecting any expansion of voting by mail in November.
Sheehan noted that under state law, all ballots for the election must be printed within the state and voting absentee "requires multiple checks of a voter's signature and a form of identification from that individual.
"We have not heard from the Trump Administration about any concerns re: the security of vote by mail," she added.
Oklahoma: No-excuse absentee voting
In a statement, Paul Ziriax, the State Election Board secretary, said absentee voting was secure in his state.
"Although we cannot speak to the processes used in other states, Oklahoma's election security and integrity procedures make mail absentee voting secure here. Oklahoma has long had "no excuse" absentee voting, and our state's procedures help ensure that the voter to whom an absentee ballot is issued is the same person who voted and returned the absentee ballot.
"Thanks to Oklahoma's absentee security and integrity features, our voters can be confident that absentee voting is secure here," he added. "So long as these protections remain in place, Oklahomans can continue to have confidence in the security of our absentee voting process."
Oregon: All-mail elections
In a statement to ABC News, the Oregon Secretary of State's office said the state "has over 20 years of experience conducting elections by mail after Oregon voters approved the practice in 1998."
"For years, Oregon voters have enjoyed the benefits of a vote-by-mail system, including convenience, flexibility, cost savings, and the security of paper ballots. In our experience, voter fraud is exceedingly rare and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the office said. "After the 2016 general election, there were 22 people found guilty of voting in two states, accounting for only 0.001% of ballots cast. We have sophisticated tools to identify these people, including signature verification and unique barcodes."
The office said no one in the secretary of state's office or the elections division has been contacted by the Trump administration regarding concerns about vote-by-mail.
Pennsylvania: No-excuse absentee voting
A spokesperson declined to comment, citing a recently filed lawsuit from the Trump campaign.
Rhode Island: No-excuse absentee voting
Nick Domings, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island secretary of state's office, said in a statement to ABC News that Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea "agrees with secretaries of state across the country, both Democrat and Republican, that voting by mail is a safe and secure option during the pandemic."
"Voters in Rhode Island certainly seem to agree as well. In our June 2 Presidential Primary, 83% of ballots were cast by mail," Domings said. "Rhode Island's mail ballot system has several layers of security, including signature verification, to ensure each voter's identity. Rhode Islanders can absolutely trust the integrity of our state's elections this fall."
Domings said the office has not been contacted by any officials in the Trump Administration regarding concerns about vote-by-mail.
South Carolina: Excuse required for absentee ballot
South Carolina's State Election Commission said in a statement to ABC that, "the expansion of absentee voting by mail can be done efficiently and securely provided we have the time to implement the necessary changes to processes."
"Absentee voting was expanded to all voters for our June Primaries and Runoffs, but that legislative change has expired," spokesperson Chris Whitmire said in a statement. "It's unclear whether the General Assembly will implement changes for November."
Whitmire added that the commission has not been contacted by members of the Trump Administration regarding security concerns of absentee voting by mail.
South Dakota: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Tennessee: Excuse required for absentee ballot
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Texas: Excuse required for absentee ballot
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Utah: All-mail elections
Utah Director of Elections Justin Lee told ABC News that the state has "not experienced any issue with widespread voter fraud."
"Utah has been a vote by mail state for several years now," Lee said. "In 2018 we only had two small counties that were not vote by mail, and those two counties came on board for the Super Tuesday Presidential Primary in March. We have not had to do any significant expansion of vote by mail in 2020. We have not experienced any issue with widespread voter fraud in Utah."
Lee said he is not aware whether any officials in the Trump administration have contacted the state regarding security concerns of vote-by-mail.
Vermont: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Virginia: No-excuse absentee voting
Andrea Gaines, the director of community relations for the Virginia Department of Elections, told ABC News that the commonwealth's residents should be confident that their votes will be counted accurately in November and that state and local election officials are taking all necessary steps to ensure the integrity of the upcoming election."
Gaines added that she is unaware of any outreach to the office by members of the Trump administration expressing concerns about vote-by-mail.
Washington: All-mail elections
Washington secretary of state spokesperson Kylee Zabel outlined the state's security protocols regarding vote-by-mail in a statement to ABC News.
"Washington has been conducting vote-by-mail elections since 2011," Zabel said. "We've worked hard to balance access with security, building in compensating security controls to inspire public confidence that the results reflect the way people intended to vote."
Zabel said the "linchpin" of the state's security is found in signature verification for all ballots.
"Every single signature on every ballot that is returned to a county election official is checked against the signature on file in a voter's registration record," Zabel said. "This enables officials to do to two things – 1) ensure the ballot was returned by an eligible voter, and 2) if the signature on the ballot envelope does not match the signature on file, it gives the voter a chance to either update their record or alert election officials that the ballot returned may be fraudulent."
Zabel said the office has not been contacted by members of the Trump Administration regarding concerns about vote-by-mail.
West Virginia: Excuse required for absentee ballot
Mike Queen, the deputy chief of staff and director of communications for the West Virginia secretary of state's office, told ABC News the state's recent primary saw a massive jump in participation in the absentee/ballot-by-mail process.
"Typically in West Virginia elections we've had less than two percent to participate in our absentee/ballot-by-mail process statewide," Queen said. "This particular [primary] election we've had 50 percent. So we went 6700 to more than 260,000 absentee ballots by mail but we were prepared for it.
Queen added, "we have a plan in place, I will tell you that West Virginia has more options to cast a ballot than any other state in the nation."
Queen did not respond to a request for comment on whether the office has been contacted by members of the Trump administration regarding concerns with vote-by-mail.
Wisconsin: No-excuse absentee voting
No response to inquiries from ABC News.
Wyoming: No-excuse absentee voting
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