Election fraud can involve corruption in voter registration, balloting, and vote counting and certification for the purpose of either ensuring or increasing the chances of the election of a candidate favored by those committing the fraud. Election fraud also covers proceedings related to primary elections. General issues discussed in relation to election fraud include the historic background of election laws, Federal jurisdiction for election laws, prosecutorial initiatives, and specific statutes. A major section of the article's discussion of election fraud addresses voter intimidation statutes. The topics considered in this section are conspiracy against rights, the deprivation of rights under color of law, federally protected activities, intimidation of voters, intimidation in voting and registering, and troops at polls. Another major section in the discussion of election fraud pertains to voter fraud statutes. These statutes address false information in registering or voting, fraudulent registration or voting, voting more than once, false citizenship claims to register or vote, and voting by aliens. The discussion of election fraud concludes with a section on alternative theories of prosecution, which features explanations of how the Travel Act and mail fraud can apply in election fraud. After discussing election fraud, the article addresses campaign finance crimes. Campaign finance laws aim to reduce the influence of money on the political process by placing limitations on who may contribute and how much may be contributed. The background and jurisdiction of such laws are discussed, as well as criminal prosecution under these laws. The features of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) as amended most recently by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) are explained in detail. 329 notes