U Miami prof: Voter fraud is a ‘conspiracy theory’

University of Miami political science professor Joseph Uscinski discussed his take on various conspiracy theories, including “voter fraud.”

In an interview with the University of Miami’s official news outlet, Uscinski analyzed QAnon, Pizzagate, and various conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19, as well as “the belief that the election will be rigged...” These were all discussed in the same context as voter fraud.

“The integrity of this upcoming election has become an election issue and that is not normal in this country,” Uscinski said. 

He also noted that once someone buys into a conspiracy theory, it is nearly impossible to change their views.

“People have their beliefs and these beliefs are stable,” he said.

[RELATED: Math association says math ‘inherently carries human biases,’ citing Critical Race Theory]

But while there is no known evidence of widespread, national voter fraud, there have been such instances, including recently. 

On the day after this interview was published, Zul Mohamed — who ran for mayor of Carrollton, Texas — was arrested for voter fraud after allegedly sending 84 mail-in ballot applications.

On that same day, a New Jersey postman was charged with throwing out nearly 100,000 ballots, as well as several hundred campaign flyers.

Additionally, the Federal Election Assistance Commission reported in April that between 2012 and 2018, 28.3 million mail-in ballots remain unaccounted for.

[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Prof compares Black Americans supporting Trump to Jews supporting Hitler]

Uscinski included those who will not take the COVID-19 vaccine — 30 percent of Americans — in his interview about conspiracy theories. He believes that conspiracy theorists have firm anti-medicine views, with many alleging that the government, deep state, and pharmaceutical companies are withholding crucial information from the general public.

Uscinski told Campus Reform that a sizable portion of left-leaning Americans subscribe to the conspiracy theories that he mentioned. He explained that “QAnon is believed equally by people on the left and the right,” and that the same is true of vaccines. He further stated that conspiracy theories are equally as prevalent on the left and the right, and that he is one of the few academics to acknowledge this fact.

Campus Reform also spoke with Kevin Kosar, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, for further insight. 

Kosar’s research areas include American politics and the U.S. Postal Service. 

He said that “fraud conducted via voting by mail is nearly nonexistent,” adding that “what fraud has occurred is almost always very small scale---a tiny percentage of the electorate,” Kosar said.

Kosar cited the recent incident in North Carolina in which a campaign operative was charged with fraud, prompting an order for a re-vote.

Kosar said the reason that voter fraud is rare, although not non-existent, as Uscinski claimed, “is that these days elections administrators have databases, bar codes, and other technologies [s]o only registered voters may vote and they may vote only once. Indeed, one thing the Left has complained about is that too many ballots cast are being discarded due to anti-fraud measures, such as signature verification.”

Uscinski’s comments came before the current election chaos, during which the Trump campaign has alleged voter fraud in key swing states such as Pennsylvania and Nevada, both of which the president must now carry to be re-elected. The Trump campaign has filed multiple lawsuits in various states yet to be called for Trump or Biden.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft