Dirty Deeds (chapter summary)

Expanded no-excuse mail-in voting significantly increased exposure to risks associated with traditional absentee balloting, including voter impersonation, weakened identification safeguards, and vulnerabilities in ballot distribution systems. Cybersecurity assessments preceding the 2020 election had already warned that voter registration databases and ballot request systems could be targets of integrity or availability attacks, potentially resulting in altered records, redirected ballots, or delayed processing—risks compounded by the introduction of large-scale mail-in infrastructure. Academic research on “voter identity theft” and duplicate or outdated registration records highlights how database weaknesses—and lagging list maintenance could create opportunities for impersonation or fraudulent ballot requests without immediately displacing active voters. The chapter further examines ancillary risks surrounding application harvesting, ballot collection practices, unsecured drop boxes, compromised voter privacy within households, and cross-state registration dynamics, arguing that the rapid scaling of mail-in voting amplified structural vulnerabilities that had long been recognized but insufficiently addressed.