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I used to work elections - I did poll worker training, supervised groups of polling places and even counted votes in a warehouse underneath Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco. Voter fraud essentially doesn't exist in the United States.
Over and over poll watchers, law enforcement and journalists have looked for cases of voter fraud in recent American elections. They basically don't exist!
Elections can and should be easier to access, easier to understand, easier to participate in and more secure, especially digitally. But all experts agree: people aren't faking their way into the polls in any significant number.
If a public official tells you they are concerned about voter fraud, the odds they're telling the truth are about as low as the chances there is meaningful fraud in a 21st-century American election.
My (anecdotal) experience with polling places: while non-partisan poll observers did exist, the vast majority were essentially campaign agents trying to con their way into campaign in polling places.
In the elections I worked, I didn't see any violations by poll workers that were A) partisan or B) something that couldn't be chalked up to a one-day worker who maybe is elderly being a little confused. To the extent people's voting rights were abrogated, it was all systemic.
I worked in San Francisco, where the priority was maximizing participation and counting every vote. That was our message to every poll worker, top to bottom: every citizen gets to vote, and it's our job to help them do so.
If someone is working in a non-partisan position in the voting system, and they're telling you their priority is voter fraud or anything other than making sure every citizen gets to vote, they are almost certainly being dissembling.
There aren't vast conspiracies to lose ballot boxes or for non-citizens to vote or for people to vote twice. There are absolutely plans to change voting rules to control who votes, based on who those folks might vote for. Watch for systemic problems, not conspiracies.
All of this said: I was so lucky to work with so many wonderful citizens. My main message here is to be proud of and defend our democracy, and all the caring neighbors who make it possible.
