What is ballot harvesting?
What is ballot collection?
Ballot collection, also known by its pejorative term ballot harvesting, is when a person or an organization collects mail-in ballots from others and takes them to an election office or a drop box to be counted.
Is ballot collection the same as ballot harvesting?
Yes.
Where is ballot collection legal?
It varies from state-to-state. Currently, 31 states allow another person to submit your ballot for you.
Where is ballot collection legal?
It varies from state-to-state. Currently, 31 states allow another person to submit your ballot for you.
Does ballot collection lead to voter fraud?
No, though there are a few examples of individuals who broke the law and were caught for related reasons.
The idea that ballot collection leads to voter fraud comes from three different ideas.
- States that have laws on the books regulating the practice do this because they have a general concern that allowing people to submit ballots on behalf of others will lead to them persuading voters voting by mail to vote in a certain way.
- Opponents of ballot collection take these legitimate concerns a step further and allege that political operatives find groups of people and persuade them or trick them to vote in a certain way. These allegations can take a variety of forms, including that they pay people to vote a certain way or they find ineligible voters (e.g. undocument immigrants) and get them to vote. There is no evidence to support that this happens.
- Opponents of ballot collection who object to the practice call it ballot harvesting in an attempt to reframe and delegitimize the process in negative terms.
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