‘American elections should be decided by American citizens, and only American citizens.’
SCHAUMBURG, IL (June 15, 2026) – As Congress continues debating the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE Act, The Heartland Institute is reminding lawmakers, members of the media, and the American people about the extensive work Heartland has done in recent years documenting serious vulnerabilities in America’s voting systems, especially those related to mail-in ballots and election integrity.
In late 2023, The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports released a groundbreaking poll showing that one-in-five mail-in voters admitted to committing at least one kind of voter fraud during the 2020 election. The poll quickly went viral and helped spark a national conversation about the security of mail-in voting.
President Donald Trump highlighted the poll’s findings at the time, saying “THIS IS THE BIGGEST STORY OF THE YEAR.” More recently, the White House cited the Heartland/Rasmussen findings in a press release urging passage of the SAVE Act, noting that “a 2023 Heartland Institute/Rasmussen poll found that 21% of mail-in-voters admitted to at least one form of voter fraud in the 2020 election.”
Following the release of that poll, The Heartland Institute published a major policy study titled Who Really Won the 2020 Election?, which applied the Heartland/Rasmussen findings to the 2020 presidential election results. The report concluded that, even if only a fraction of the self-reported illegal voting activity occurred, the potential fraud identified by the poll was large enough to have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in several key battleground states.
Heartland also commissioned a follow-up poll in 2024 with Rasmussen Reports that revealed nearly three in 10 voters said they would engage in at least one kind of illegal voting activity in the 2024 presidential election if doing so would help their preferred candidate win.
Together, these findings demonstrate that election integrity concerns are not merely theoretical. They are urgent, measurable, and directly relevant to the debate now taking place in Congress over the SAVE Act and other election reform proposals.
The Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center at The Heartland Institute serves as the “tip of the spear” in identifying and confronting the underreported challenges that threaten American sovereignty, individual liberty, and free-market capitalism. The EIC brings these emerging threats to the forefront of public and political awareness, empowering citizens and policymakers alike to act in defense of freedom and a thriving free-market society.
The following quotes, provided by Heartland Institute experts, can be used for attribution:
“For years, The Heartland Institute has been warning that America’s election systems contain serious vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to mass mail-in voting. Our groundbreaking poll from late 2023 was one of the most important election integrity surveys ever conducted, because it revealed that a shocking number of voters openly admitted to engaging in illegal voting behavior during the 2020 election.
“Congress should take this seriously. Lawmakers have a responsibility to protect the integrity of American elections before the next crisis occurs. Election integrity is the foundation of self-government. If Americans cannot trust that only lawful votes are being cast and counted, then public confidence in every election outcome will continue to collapse.”
Donald Kendal
Director, Emerging Issues Center
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
“The SAVE Act is one of the most important election integrity proposals in U.S. history. American elections should be decided by American citizens, and only American citizens. That principle ought to be so obvious that it should unite the entire country. Yet under our current system, states are often forced to rely on weak verification procedures that leave voter rolls vulnerable to error, abuse, and political manipulation.
“Even worse, many states’ mail-in voting systems have few, if any, strong safeguards to ensure that the person filling out a ballot is truly who he or she claims to be, calling into question the accuracy of countless close elections across the country in every election cycle.
“The SAVE Act would help fix these serious problems by requiring real proof of citizenship before someone can register to vote in federal elections and by significantly strengthening verification requirements for mail-in balloting. These are common-sense, fair, and necessary reforms. Every member of Congress who claims to care about the integrity of our republic should support them.”
Justin Haskins
Vice President for Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
If you’d like to interview a Heartland Institute expert on this topic or other topics, please contact Donald Kendal, the director of the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center at [email protected], or contact Vice President and Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected]. You can also call/text Jim at 312-731-9364.
Donald Kendal is Director of The Heartland Institute’s Socialism Research Center. Kendal is also the host of Heartland’s In the Tank Podcast.
Justin Haskins is a Senior Fellow for the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center at The Heartland Institute.
