Report · Culture

Americans want tougher fraud penalties for mail-in voting

Reading

If they could make only one change to how mail-in voting works in their state, Americans lean toward enforcement first: 37% prefer increasing criminal penalties for submitting fraudulent ballots, ahead of any other single change, in a Verasight survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted March 6-16, 2026.

A quarter (25%) would rather have states notify voters of ballot problems so they can fix them before rejection, and 23% prefer requiring mail ballots to be received, rather than just postmarked, by Election Day. Providing more funding and training for election offices that process mail ballots draws the least support, at 16%.

Topline

single choice

Topline distribution

Americans want tougher fraud penalties for mail-in voting.

If your state could make one change to improve how mail-in voting works, which would you prefer?

  • Increase criminal penalties for submitting fraudulent ballots 36.8%
  • Notify voters of ballot problems so they can fix them before rejection 24.7%
  • Require mail ballots to be received, rather than just postmarked, by Election Day 22.9%
  • Provide more funding and training for election offices that process mail ballots 15.7%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.6%

Module 4: Identity, Politics, & Social Trust

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2026-03-06 → 2026-03-16
Base (unweighted)
1,000
Margin of error
+/- 3.6%
Module
Module 4: Identity, Politics, & Social Trust

Source

Citation

Verasight Client Omnibus Survey #2026-044, fielded March 6-16, 2026, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.6%.

https://reports.verasight.io/r/omnibus-2026-044#q-4-22

Verasight survey methodology

How Verasight conducts surveys.

This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
Reporting
The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io. Verified legacy reports remain on their original hosts, and unpublished reports are marked pending.
Transparency
Verasight is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative.

The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io; older reports may remain on verified legacy hosts.