Although corrupt government may exist without election crime, when election crime exists, public corruption of some form is also usually present. This is so because virtually all election crime is driven by a motive to control governmental power for some corrupt purpose. Election crime cases therefore often provide effective tools for attacking other forms of public corruption. The task of the federal prosecutor and investigator is not only to vindicate the fundamental principle of fair elections by convicting those who corrupt them but also to find the motive behind the election fraud and, when possible, to prosecute those involved in the underlying corruption. There are several reasons why election crime prosecutions may present an easier means of obtaining convictions than do other forms of public corruption: • Election crimes usually occur largely in public. • Election crimes often involve many players. For example, successful voter bribery schemes require numerous voters; ballot box stuffing requires controlling all the election officials in a polling location; and illegal political contributions generally involve numerous conduits to disguise the transaction. • Election crimes tend to leave paper trails, either in state voting documentation or in public reports filed by federal campaigns. TYPES OF ELECTION CRIMES 1. Election Fraud Election fraud usually involves corruption of one of three processes: the obtaining and marking of ballots, the counting and certification of election results, or the registration of voters. Election fraud is generally not common when one party or one faction of a 2