This article's
lead sectionmay be too short to adequately
summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to
provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(October 2016)
2021 Syrian presidential election (incumbent president since 2000,
Bashar al-Assad, won by over 95% votes, election widely condemned by international community as fraudulent even before the voting took place)
1957 Canadian federal election - The election of the Liberal candidate in
Yukon was contested by the losing Tory candidate. After a trial before the
Yukon Territorial Court, that court voided the election, holding that enough ineligible people had been permitted to vote to affect the outcome, though the court noted that it was not the fault of the Liberal candidate that these irregularities had occurred. The Tory,
Erik Nielsen, won the by-election on December 16, 1957.[24][25],
2006 Mexican general election - The election was plagued by irregularities, and President
Vicente Fox was accused of using government resources to favor the
PAN candidate
Felipe Calderón over the initially heavily favored
PRD candidate
Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The official election results gave Calderón a very narrow victory with 35.89% of the votes, with López Obrador in second place with 35,31% of the votes. López Obrador refused to recognize the results and claimed victory for himself;
a political crisis ensued, and there were nationwide protests calling for a complete recount of the votes, which was rejected by the
Federal Electoral Tribunal. In spite of the protests, Calderón took office as president on 1 December; only ten days later he declared war on the drug cartels, thus beginning the
Mexican Drug War, a move widely perceived to have been an extraordinary step to gain popular legitimacy after the chaotic electoral process.
2000 United States presidential election - After a close election in which the winner was unclear, the Republican candidate
George W. Bush won
Florida by such a slim margin that a
recount of the votes was triggered under Florida state law, beginning a series of legal battles between Bush and the Democratic candidate
Al Gore and considerable public controversy. After the completion of a machine recount, the
Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual recount due to continued concerns over the validity of the election. The case was appealed to the
Supreme Court, which halted the recount in the Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board decisions, which Bush to win Florida by a 0.009 percent margin and the electoral vote.
2004 Washington gubernatorial election - After a close election in which the Republican candidate
Dino Rossi was declared the winner in the initial election and the machine count, the Democratic candidate
Christine Gregoire was declared the winner after a manual recount. Rossi made an unsuccessful legal challenge to the results, and did not officially concede the election for seven months.
2016 United States presidential election - The election was widely characterized as divisive and negative and was plagued by scandals such as the Republican candidate
Donald Trump's
alleged sexual misconduct and the Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton's
alleged improper use of an email server. No Russian citizen accused of
interfering in the election in the form of online influencing from a
St. Petersburg-based troll farm has been formally charged, and as result no Court will have the opportunity to review evidence to support or dispute accusations of Russian interference that adhere to the standards of the United States Judicial System for proving guilt. Trump ultimately won an upset victory in the Electoral College despite Clinton's victory in the popular vote, and characterized the Russian interference as a "hoax" and "
fake news" despite the conclusions of the
U.S. intelligence community to the contrary. In 2016, the FBI initiated the
Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Russian meddling in the election and many suspicious[36][37]links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies, and President Trump
dismissed FBI Director
James Comey due to his continuation of the investigation. Due to allegations of collusion with the Russian government,
Deputy Attorney GeneralRod Rosenstein appointed
Robert Mueller as
Special Counsel to lead an
investigation. Although the investigation resulted in 34 indictments and eight criminal convictions, it refrained from making a judgment about whether Trump could be criminally charged for
obstruction of justice due to his conduct during the investigation. In 2020 US Attorney General
William Barr initiated a criminal investigation of the Rosenstein/Mueller collusion investigation in response to its questionable basis and procedures.
2020 Wisconsin Democratic primary - During the
COVID-19 pandemic,
Tony Evers, Wisconsin Governor moved to delay the primary election because voters were expected to
shelter in place to minimize the spread of the virus. The
Wisconsin Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that this was not allowed, while the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that the election would take place as scheduled, disregarding the fact that only five of the 180 polling places would be open due to a lack of poll workers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump stated, "The things they had in there [the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act] were crazy. They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
2020 United States presidential election — The election was heavily reliant on
mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican Donald Trump repeatedly alleged that mail-in ballots would allow the Democratic Party to commit electoral fraud. Snopes immediately debunked the claim.[38][39] Trump's critics accused him of
blocking funding to the
U.S. Postal Service to sabotage the election, although
Postmaster GeneralLouis DeJoy later agreed to delay certain changes until after the election.[40] Trump also suggested that he would not accept the results if he lost and even refused to commit to a peaceful transition.[41][42] A unanimous vote of the
U.S. Senate, and the
U.S. Armed Forces announced their commitment to a peaceful transition, while Trump's comments were heavily criticized.[43][41] International observers from
OSCE described the elections as well-managed, but said that baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, made by the incumbent President, harm public trust in democratic institutions.[44] Various allegations of fraud relating to election processes in Wisconsin,
Michigan,
Pennsylvania and
Arizona were also debunked by independent
fact-checking organizations like
FactCheck.org and
Snopes.[45][46][47][48][49] Trump ultimately lost the election to
Joe Biden, but refused to concede, continued to repeat allegations of voter fraud, and obstructed the presidential transition.[50] Despite there being no evidence for voter fraud, there were hundreds of affidavits across the country alleging that there was voter fraud and voter irregularities.[51][52][53][54] On January 6, 2021, a
mob breached the
police lines and
invaded the
U.S. Capitol, delaying the counting of the
electoral votes by several hours, and resulting in the shooting death of a protester. Trump was subsequently
impeached by the
House due to his being accused of inciting the insurrection; he was later acquitted of these charges by the
United States Senate.
2022 Arizona gubernatorial election — Democratic candidate
Katie Hobbs beat Republican opponent
Kari Lake by a margin of just over 0.6% of total votes cast. During the campaign, Hobbs declined to debate Lake in a move that was criticized by Republicans and members of the press. Hobbs served as Secretary of State during the election (meaning she was in charge of administering the election), leading to
conflict of interest allegations. On election day, most polls predicated Lake would win the election. When asked if she would accept the election results in the event she lost, Lake refused to answer on multiple occasions. Results for the election would not be confirmed until a week after election day. When Hobbs was declared the winner, Lake refused to concede the election. Lake ultimately filed several lawsuits alleging voter suppression. As of June 2022, all but one lawsuit has been dismissed or ruled against Lake. An ongoing lawsuit seeks to determine if the signature-matching verification process for absentee ballots was conducted improperly in
Maricopa County, where over 60% of Arizona's population resides.
Ferdinand Marcos, who had been fairly elected as President of the
Philippines in 1965, remained in power and became increasingly dictatorial and
kleptocratic, as he succeeded in marginalizing dissent and opposition through allegedly-rigged elections.
Many dictatorships and former Warsaw Pact nations hold
show elections in which results predictably show that nearly 100% of all eligible voters vote and that nearly 100% of those eligible voters vote for the prescribed or often only list of candidates for office or for referendums that favour the party in power, irrespective of economic conditions and the cruelties of the government.
It was widely held in the Ukrainian media that the
Ukrainian election of 2004 was also marked by ballot rigging and voter intimidation on all sides.[60]
^Meisel, John (1962). The Canadian General Election of 1957. Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto Press, 245.
^A full description of the election in Yukon, the trial, and the subsequent by-election may be found in Erik Nielsen's memoir, The House Is Not a Home.
^Freeman, Steven (2005). Was the 2004 Presidential Election stolen?. Seven Stories Press.
^Harding, Luke (November 15, 2017).
"How Trump walked into Putin's web". The Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2019. ...the Russians were talking to people associated with Trump. The precise nature of these exchanges has not been made public, but according to sources in the US and the UK, they formed a suspicious pattern.
^Sturgeon, Will (30 March 2005).
"UK voters fear election fraud". Silicon.com Law & Policy. CBS Interactive Limited. Archived from
the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
This article's
lead sectionmay be too short to adequately
summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to
provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(October 2016)
2021 Syrian presidential election (incumbent president since 2000,
Bashar al-Assad, won by over 95% votes, election widely condemned by international community as fraudulent even before the voting took place)
1957 Canadian federal election - The election of the Liberal candidate in
Yukon was contested by the losing Tory candidate. After a trial before the
Yukon Territorial Court, that court voided the election, holding that enough ineligible people had been permitted to vote to affect the outcome, though the court noted that it was not the fault of the Liberal candidate that these irregularities had occurred. The Tory,
Erik Nielsen, won the by-election on December 16, 1957.[24][25],
2006 Mexican general election - The election was plagued by irregularities, and President
Vicente Fox was accused of using government resources to favor the
PAN candidate
Felipe Calderón over the initially heavily favored
PRD candidate
Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The official election results gave Calderón a very narrow victory with 35.89% of the votes, with López Obrador in second place with 35,31% of the votes. López Obrador refused to recognize the results and claimed victory for himself;
a political crisis ensued, and there were nationwide protests calling for a complete recount of the votes, which was rejected by the
Federal Electoral Tribunal. In spite of the protests, Calderón took office as president on 1 December; only ten days later he declared war on the drug cartels, thus beginning the
Mexican Drug War, a move widely perceived to have been an extraordinary step to gain popular legitimacy after the chaotic electoral process.
2000 United States presidential election - After a close election in which the winner was unclear, the Republican candidate
George W. Bush won
Florida by such a slim margin that a
recount of the votes was triggered under Florida state law, beginning a series of legal battles between Bush and the Democratic candidate
Al Gore and considerable public controversy. After the completion of a machine recount, the
Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual recount due to continued concerns over the validity of the election. The case was appealed to the
Supreme Court, which halted the recount in the Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board decisions, which Bush to win Florida by a 0.009 percent margin and the electoral vote.
2004 Washington gubernatorial election - After a close election in which the Republican candidate
Dino Rossi was declared the winner in the initial election and the machine count, the Democratic candidate
Christine Gregoire was declared the winner after a manual recount. Rossi made an unsuccessful legal challenge to the results, and did not officially concede the election for seven months.
2016 United States presidential election - The election was widely characterized as divisive and negative and was plagued by scandals such as the Republican candidate
Donald Trump's
alleged sexual misconduct and the Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton's
alleged improper use of an email server. No Russian citizen accused of
interfering in the election in the form of online influencing from a
St. Petersburg-based troll farm has been formally charged, and as result no Court will have the opportunity to review evidence to support or dispute accusations of Russian interference that adhere to the standards of the United States Judicial System for proving guilt. Trump ultimately won an upset victory in the Electoral College despite Clinton's victory in the popular vote, and characterized the Russian interference as a "hoax" and "
fake news" despite the conclusions of the
U.S. intelligence community to the contrary. In 2016, the FBI initiated the
Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Russian meddling in the election and many suspicious[36][37]links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies, and President Trump
dismissed FBI Director
James Comey due to his continuation of the investigation. Due to allegations of collusion with the Russian government,
Deputy Attorney GeneralRod Rosenstein appointed
Robert Mueller as
Special Counsel to lead an
investigation. Although the investigation resulted in 34 indictments and eight criminal convictions, it refrained from making a judgment about whether Trump could be criminally charged for
obstruction of justice due to his conduct during the investigation. In 2020 US Attorney General
William Barr initiated a criminal investigation of the Rosenstein/Mueller collusion investigation in response to its questionable basis and procedures.
2020 Wisconsin Democratic primary - During the
COVID-19 pandemic,
Tony Evers, Wisconsin Governor moved to delay the primary election because voters were expected to
shelter in place to minimize the spread of the virus. The
Wisconsin Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that this was not allowed, while the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that the election would take place as scheduled, disregarding the fact that only five of the 180 polling places would be open due to a lack of poll workers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump stated, "The things they had in there [the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act] were crazy. They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
2020 United States presidential election — The election was heavily reliant on
mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican Donald Trump repeatedly alleged that mail-in ballots would allow the Democratic Party to commit electoral fraud. Snopes immediately debunked the claim.[38][39] Trump's critics accused him of
blocking funding to the
U.S. Postal Service to sabotage the election, although
Postmaster GeneralLouis DeJoy later agreed to delay certain changes until after the election.[40] Trump also suggested that he would not accept the results if he lost and even refused to commit to a peaceful transition.[41][42] A unanimous vote of the
U.S. Senate, and the
U.S. Armed Forces announced their commitment to a peaceful transition, while Trump's comments were heavily criticized.[43][41] International observers from
OSCE described the elections as well-managed, but said that baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, made by the incumbent President, harm public trust in democratic institutions.[44] Various allegations of fraud relating to election processes in Wisconsin,
Michigan,
Pennsylvania and
Arizona were also debunked by independent
fact-checking organizations like
FactCheck.org and
Snopes.[45][46][47][48][49] Trump ultimately lost the election to
Joe Biden, but refused to concede, continued to repeat allegations of voter fraud, and obstructed the presidential transition.[50] Despite there being no evidence for voter fraud, there were hundreds of affidavits across the country alleging that there was voter fraud and voter irregularities.[51][52][53][54] On January 6, 2021, a
mob breached the
police lines and
invaded the
U.S. Capitol, delaying the counting of the
electoral votes by several hours, and resulting in the shooting death of a protester. Trump was subsequently
impeached by the
House due to his being accused of inciting the insurrection; he was later acquitted of these charges by the
United States Senate.
2022 Arizona gubernatorial election — Democratic candidate
Katie Hobbs beat Republican opponent
Kari Lake by a margin of just over 0.6% of total votes cast. During the campaign, Hobbs declined to debate Lake in a move that was criticized by Republicans and members of the press. Hobbs served as Secretary of State during the election (meaning she was in charge of administering the election), leading to
conflict of interest allegations. On election day, most polls predicated Lake would win the election. When asked if she would accept the election results in the event she lost, Lake refused to answer on multiple occasions. Results for the election would not be confirmed until a week after election day. When Hobbs was declared the winner, Lake refused to concede the election. Lake ultimately filed several lawsuits alleging voter suppression. As of June 2022, all but one lawsuit has been dismissed or ruled against Lake. An ongoing lawsuit seeks to determine if the signature-matching verification process for absentee ballots was conducted improperly in
Maricopa County, where over 60% of Arizona's population resides.
Ferdinand Marcos, who had been fairly elected as President of the
Philippines in 1965, remained in power and became increasingly dictatorial and
kleptocratic, as he succeeded in marginalizing dissent and opposition through allegedly-rigged elections.
Many dictatorships and former Warsaw Pact nations hold
show elections in which results predictably show that nearly 100% of all eligible voters vote and that nearly 100% of those eligible voters vote for the prescribed or often only list of candidates for office or for referendums that favour the party in power, irrespective of economic conditions and the cruelties of the government.
It was widely held in the Ukrainian media that the
Ukrainian election of 2004 was also marked by ballot rigging and voter intimidation on all sides.[60]
^Meisel, John (1962). The Canadian General Election of 1957. Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto Press, 245.
^A full description of the election in Yukon, the trial, and the subsequent by-election may be found in Erik Nielsen's memoir, The House Is Not a Home.
^Freeman, Steven (2005). Was the 2004 Presidential Election stolen?. Seven Stories Press.
^Harding, Luke (November 15, 2017).
"How Trump walked into Putin's web". The Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2019. ...the Russians were talking to people associated with Trump. The precise nature of these exchanges has not been made public, but according to sources in the US and the UK, they formed a suspicious pattern.
^Sturgeon, Will (30 March 2005).
"UK voters fear election fraud". Silicon.com Law & Policy. CBS Interactive Limited. Archived from
the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-22.