Election interference

Election interference generally refers to efforts to change the outcome of an election, especially by illegitimate means. Kinds of election interference may include:

• Electoral fraud, illegal interference with the process of an election
  • Vote buying, when a political party or candidate distributes money to a voter with the expectation that they will vote for them
  • Voter impersonation, when an eligible voter votes more than once or a non-eligible voter votes under the name of an eligible one
• Foreign electoral intervention, attempts by governments to influence elections in another country^[1]
  • Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
  • Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections
  • Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections
  • Foreign interference in the 2024 United States elections
  • Iranian interference in the 2024 United States elections
  • Russian interference in the 2024 United States elections
• Illegal electioneering, such as campaigning or wearing political apparel too close to a polling place^[2][3]
• Recruiting candidates with identical or similar names to an existing one, intended to confuse voters^[4]
• Where prohibited, the use of public funds to persuade voters to vote in a certain way^[5][6][7]

An 1839 speech by William H. Roane of Virginia regarding a bill on election interference by federal officials, readable pdf

See also

• List of foreign electoral interventions
• Artificial intelligence and elections – Use and impact of AI on political elections
• Election audit, a review conducted to determine whether votes were counted accurately or whether proper procedures were followed
• Election security, the protection of elections and voting infrastructure from cyberattack or cyber threat
• Election subversion, changing the result of a legitimate election outcome^[8]
• Lawfare