Washington(CNN) As coronavirus continues to spread, bipartisan officials across the country and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have supported mail-in voting as a pandemic-safe option for the upcoming election.
Despite having voted by mail himself on previous occasions, President Donald Trump has frequently pushed back on the concept, claiming without evidence that it would lead to widespread voter fraud and a "rigged" election.
Asked about the issue in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr said he had "no reason to think" that the upcoming election will be "rigged." But he did say he believes that "if you have wholesale mail-in voting, it substantially increases the risk of fraud."
During the hearing, Barr was also asked about comments he made last month regarding potential foreign interference in the presidential election via counterfeit ballots. Barr acknowledged he didn't have evidence foreign countries could successfully sway US elections with counterfeit ballots but claimed it was "common sense" that they would attempt to do so.
Facts First: More Americans than ever are expected to cast mail-in ballots this year. While that certainly presents its own challenges, historically voting by mail has not led to massive voter fraud. And nonpartisan election experts say the possibility of foreign entities printing millions of fraudulent mail-in ballots this November is highly unlikely.
According to comprehensive studies of public records detailing voter fraud in all US elections between 2000 and 2012, there were just 491 prosecutions for absentee ballot fraud. Additionally, a CNN review of data from a half-dozen recent primaries found there are much fewer examples of people fraudulently casting multiple ballots than there are cases of eligible voters who didn't receive their mail ballots on time, an issue officials are working to address before November.
Rick Hasen, a University of California-Irvine professor and one of the nation's top experts in election law, tweeted Tuesday the idea of foreign governments counterfeiting ballots "defies common sense," contrary to what Barr claimed.
"Of all the ridiculous schemes that have been floated by the President or AG Barr for how mail-in ballot fraud could affect the election, the possibility of a foreign entity swaying election by mailing fraudulent absentee ballots is the most ludicrous," Hasen tweeted.
Hasen added, "The foreign government would have to do this at scale to produce thousands of votes in even the closest swing state to try to change the outcome. With everyone watching and many states allowing voters to track their ballots this becomes impossible."
CNN previously fact-checked Trump's claims in June about a rigged 2020 election, foreign countries hijacking mail-in voting and fraud in the 2016 election.
CNN has also fact-checked Trump's claims from May about illegal "ballot harvesting", forgery and theft of mail ballots, and the level of fraudulent votes. In April, CNN fact-checked Trump's claims that postal voting hurts Republicans as well as his claims about the potential risks of mail-in voting and alleged voter fraud schemes.