Following the 2020 United States presidential election, extensive reviews, audits, and legal challenges were conducted to evaluate the fairness and security of the process. The consensus among federal and state election officials across the political spectrum, as well as the U.S. judicial system, is that the election was conducted fairly and that the results were accurate.
Here is a summary of the institutional reviews that followed the election:
* **Federal and State Election Officials:** In November 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which was overseen by the Trump administration, issued a joint statement with election infrastructure officials describing the 2020 election as "the most secure in American history," noting there was no evidence that any voting system deleted, lost, or changed votes.
* **The Judicial System:** Following the election, the campaigns and their allies filed over 60 lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging the voting processes and results. Judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans—including several appointed by Donald Trump—dismissed the vast majority of these cases, citing a lack of evidence of widespread fraud or procedural issues that would have altered the outcome of the election.
* **Audits and Recounts:** Several closely contested states, including Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, conducted partial or full recounts and forensic audits. For example, Georgia conducted a statewide manual hand recount of all paper ballots, which reaffirmed the initial automated count.
* **The Department of Justice:** In December 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr stated that the Justice Department and the FBI had investigated specific claims of fraud but had "not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election."
While the election's administration and the expansion of mail-in voting (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) became subjects of intense political debate, the legally and constitutionally established bodies responsible for overseeing, auditing, and litigating U.S. elections concluded that it was conducted fairly and securely.