This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It was the Guardian that reported some months ago that more than 40% of Americans "still do not believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 president election."
And then it editorialized, "despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud."
Now, it appears, there's evidence.
According to a report from Rasmussen Reports, "more than 20% of voters who used mail-in ballots in 2020 admit they participated in at least one form of election fraud."
President Trump long has charged that the election was rigged and stolen from him. Evidence that appeared after the fact suggests he's right, because of the undue influence of Mark Zuckerberg's $400-plus million given to officials who often used that extraordinary funding to recruit Joe Biden voters.
Further, the FBI decided to interfere in the election, with its warning to media companies to suppress accurate reporting on the scandals in the Biden family that were revealed in a laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a repair shop.
A subsequent polling suggested that interference alone could have cost President Trump the election.
Now, according to Rasmussen, polling, in conjunction with the Heartland Institute, confirmed "21% of Likely U.S. voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child, while 78% say they didn’t."
The report continued, "Thirty percent (30%) of those surveyed said they voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election. Nineteen percent (19%) of those who cast mail-in votes say a friend or family member filled out their ballot, in part or in full, on their behalf. Furthermore, 17% of mail-in voters say that in the 2020 election, they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer a permanent resident. All of these practices are illegal, Heartland Institute officials noted."
Justin Haskins of the institute's Socialism Research Center called the facts "stunning."
"For the past three years, Americans have repeatedly been told that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. But if this poll’s findings are reflective of reality, the exact opposite is true. This conclusion isn’t based on conspiracy theories or suspect evidence, but rather from the responses made directly by the voters themselves," he said.
The polling had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, with a 95% level of confidence.
"Seventeen percent (17%) of those who cast mail-in ballots in 2020 say they signed a ballot or ballot envelope on behalf of a friend or family member," the report said. Some of those cases were with permission, others without.
Heartland officials noted that forging a signature, under the law, actually invalidates that vote.
"Among other findings of the Rasmussen/Heartland Institute survey: Forty-six percent (46%) of those surveyed voted for Joe Biden in 2020, while 45% voted for Donald Trump. More Biden voters (36%) than Trump voters (23%) say they voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Democrats voted by mail in 2020, as did 24% of Republicans and 27% of voters not affiliated with either major party," Rasmussen revealed.
The report said among all voters, those who voted by mail and voted in person, "11% say a friend, family member, co-worker, or other acquaintance has admitted to them that they filled out a ballot on behalf of another person in 2020."
Divided by categories, the highest percentages of those reporting voting by absentee or mail-in ballots were Hispanics and other minorities, while the highest numbers divided by age were from voters under the age of 40.
"Younger voters are significantly more likely to admit to engaging in fraudulent election activity. For example, 31% of voters under 40 who voted by mail in 2020 say they cast a mail-in ballot in a state where they were no longer a permanent resident, compared to 11% of those ages 40-64 and just two percent (2%) of voters 65 and older," the Rasmussen summary said.
"A democratic republic cannot survive if election laws allow voters to commit fraud easily, and that’s exactly what occurred during the 2020 election," said Haskins. "Although some progress has been made in more than a dozen states since the conclusion of the 2020 election, much more work is needed in most regions of the United States."
Paul Bedard at The Washington Examiner noted, that in 2020, as the COVID crisis grew, "several states loosened election laws to allow mail-in voting, vote bundling, absentee voting, and other changes to let those concerned about getting the virus stay away from the polls. The changes were sold as positive moves to make voting easier but have since raised red flags. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have claimed that Democrats took advantage of the laws to make Joe Biden president fraudulently."
