Defending Pennsylvania's newly-enacted voter ID law on Fox News, conservative columnist John Fund declared that “to deny that voter fraud isn't going on is to frankly deny reality.” But a new study finds just ten verifiable instances of in-person voter fraud of the sort that voter ID laws are intended to prevent since 2000.  

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that a new study, undertaken by News21, found that the type of in-person voter fraud is exceedingly rare.  News21 sent thousands of public records searches to elections officials across the country, seeking every case of election fraud since 2000. After examining the resultant 2,068 reports of election fraud, the investigative news group was only able to identify ten instances where an individual impersonated another person in order to cast a ballot. News21 also reviewed 375 election fraud cases cited by the Republican National Lawyers Association, which supports voter ID laws; their analysis found no cases of voter impersonation fraud.   

This announcement did little to deter Fox News. The conservative news network, which has gone so far as to set up a voter fraud e-mail tip line, has played a central role in both fearmongering about the unlikely prospect of widespread voter fraud while also defending controversial voter ID laws.  

Indeed, the day after the study's release, Fox News hosted Fund to defend Pennsylvania's voter ID law and hype voter fraud fears. Speaking in defense of Pennsylvania's newly enacted voter ID law, Fund spoke in direct contradiction to the study's findings when he said that “to deny that voter fraud isn't going on is to frankly deny reality.” 

News21's findings are consistent with the reality in Pennsylvania. The state has acknowledged during litigation that it is not aware of any instances of in-person voter fraud ever occurring in Pennsylvania. A May 4 Philadelphia Inquirer article examined past instances of voter fraud in Pennsylvania and found that none of the cases would have likely been prevented by Pennsylvania's voter ID law. Pennsylvania state officials have estimated that as many as nine percent of registered voters do not possess identification that will allow them to vote this fall.