Electoral fraud
![Transparent ballot box used in Russia to prevent election officials from pre-stuffing box with fake ballots.](/Images/godic/202501/15/Voting-box-68062342.jpg")
![A specialized ballot box used to assist ballot stuffing, featured in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1856.](/Images/godic/202501/15/Ballotstuffing2342.jpg")
Electoral fraud or vote rigging is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both. What constitutes electoral fraud under law varies from country to country.