Almost 15 million mail-in ballots were unaccounted for in the 2020 U.S. presidential election

Almost 15 million mail-in ballots were unaccounted for in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and more than a million more ballots were undeliverable, according to a new study by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative watchdog group on election integrity.

In the face of a pandemic, states from across the nation hastily pushed traditionally in-person voters to mail ballots while, at the same time, trying to learn how to even administer such a scenario. Experts at PILF warned that the lost ballot problem would worsen in 2020 compared to previous years. In total, elections in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 saw more than 43.1 million unaccounted for mail ballots. 

2020 Election

• 90.6 million ballots sent
• 1.1 million undeliverable
• 560,814 rejected
• 14.7 million “unknown”

PILF President J. Christian Adams

“These figures detail how the 2020 push to mail voting needs to be a one-year experiment. Bills like H.R. 1/S.1 risk inflating these numbers even further, pushing our election system toward error, disenfranchisement and ultimately widespread doubt about election outcomes. Some of the counties with the least experience in administering mail voting rejected the most ballots nationwide. If continued, 2020-style chaos will become the norm.”