{"id":8635,"date":"2026-07-17T12:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8635"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:56:07","slug":"why-american-elections-are-so-complicated-and-secure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8635","title":{"rendered":"Why American elections are so complicated \u2014 and secure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">In a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/trump-address-elections-updates-07-16-2026\">speech to the nation<\/a> Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-primetime-address-elections-5c84a59dffc20c12ed2fcb822fa950c9\">Americans deserve secure elections<\/a>, and he claimed to be using federal authority to prevent them from being \u201cstolen.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren\u2019t conducted at the federal level. America votes in more than 10,000 different election jurisdictions, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">That structure makes the nation&#8217;s elections <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-2024-our-very-complicated-democracy\/election-2024-united-states-america-voting-rules-episode-3.html\">extraordinarily complicated<\/a> \u2014 and also safe from widespread fraud. And when misconduct does happen \u2014 rarely \u2014 security protocols frequently catch it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">America&#8217;s highly decentralized system of voting exists because the nation\u2019s Founding Fathers gave authority over elections to the states, rather than the federal government. While Congress has the power to regulate elections \u2014 and has used that authority to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act \u2014 the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the \u201ctimes, places and manner\u201d for elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">There also is no national election agency that administers the presidential contest, something that&#8217;s different from many other countries. And when it comes to doing the day-to-day work of running an election, the responsibility falls to officials at the local level \u2014 usually a clerk or election supervisor \u2014 with help from staff and volunteers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">While differences in election laws can get confusing, election security experts say this structure is a strength. That&#8217;s because to pull off stealing a presidential election \u2014 as Trump falsely claims was done to him in 2020 \u2014 it would require large numbers of election workers in the most competitive counties across the country who are willing to risk prosecution, prison time and fines while working with officials from both parties willing to look the other way. And everyone somehow would have to keep quiet \u2014 a highly unlikely scenario.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">There are also shared practices and security measures in place across the country that together work to ensure that only eligible voters can cast a ballot and only one ballot is counted for each.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Most Americans by now have probably heard stories about someone casting multiple ballots, or voting in the name of dead relatives, or stealing mail ballots from mailboxes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">When <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241126212011\/https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/election-2024-voter-fraud-trump-harris-a3b4c2db17217311770259193c115b80\">these incidents happen<\/a>, they are often caught and prosecuted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Voting more than once, tampering with ballots, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241126212011\/https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wrongful-voting-new-hampshire-massachusetts-bdf0c2c4f89e8c796dcf0d61911084d4\">lying about your residence<\/a> to vote somewhere else or casting someone else\u2019s ballot are crimes that can be punished with hefty fines and prison time. Non-U.S. citizens who break election laws can be deported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For anyone still motivated to cheat, election systems in the United States are designed with multiple layers of protection and transparency intended to stand in the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For example, for in-person voting, most states either require or request voters provide some sort of identification at the polls. Others require voters to verify who they are in another way, such as stating their name and address, signing a poll book or signing an affidavit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For absentee voting, all states require a voter&#8217;s signature, and many states have further precautions, such as having bipartisan teams <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241126212011\/https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-ap-fact-check-government-and-politics-22fdee545753ea4e2d7ff3ccf9b9373b\">compare the signature with other signatures on file<\/a>, requiring the signature to be notarized or requiring a witness to sign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">That means even if a ballot is erroneously sent to someone\u2019s past address and the current resident mails it in, there are checks to alert election workers to the foul play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump has spent six years insisting he won the 2020 election, a campaign he lost to former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/voter-fraud-election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-7fcb6f134e528fee8237c7601db3328f\">An Associated Press review<\/a> in 2021 dug into every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states that Trump disputed. It found fewer than 475 cases \u2014 a number that would have made no difference in that race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Allegations from Trump of massive voting fraud have been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration\u2019s Homeland Security Department. In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr, a Trump appointee, told the AP that no proof of widespread voter fraud had been uncovered. \u201cTo date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a speech to the nation Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said Americans deserve secure elections, and he claimed to be using federal authority to prevent them from being \u201cstolen.\u201d In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren\u2019t conducted at the federal level. America votes in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/3b74aa89-3cb5-4356-87e6-205692d3c322\/wirestory_db0a438023d8451c2854940504b48547_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}