Not sure what you mean by fair. It was not a normal election and each state made election decisions to protect the voters and make sure everyone that is qualified to vote is able to vote and vote safely. When the election was held we had 65,000 in the hospital with Covid and about 20,000 in the ICU, businesses were close, schools closed, etc..... This was not the only presidential election that was surrounded by unusual circumstances.
George Washington was elected president and never campaigned because the people had no opportunity to vote.
After Thomas Jefferson and his running-mate, Aaron Burr, tied
in the
Electoral College
vote, Jefferson was elected
president by the House of Representatives even thou Barr had significantly more of the popular vote and electoral vote. However several electoral votes got mysteriously changed before the Electoral College met.
In the election of 1824, Jackson won both electoral votes and popular vote but because he had 3 opponents he did not have a majority so the election was decided in House. Adams, one of the candidates made a deal with Clay, another candidate and he threw his votes to Adams. The vote of 3 other representatives were purchase by Adam and Adams became president.
And there was the 1896 race between Republican William McKinley and Democrat William Jennings Bryan, in which Bryan roamed the country on a whistle-stop train tour, logging 18,000 miles, while McKinley — who apparently couldn't be bothered to travel — chose to stay on his front porch in Canton, Ohio and give speeches to delegates. Amazingly, the voting public was fine with that, and McKinley won. Supporters of Bryan could not believe the results. How could a candidate that did not campaign win the election. Like Trump, Bryan supporter demonstrated and call the election a sham. However, unlike Trump Bryan excepted the lost graciously and conceded the election.
Political reformer and newspaper editor Horace Greeley was the only candidate to be nominated by both the Democrats and the Republicans, yet he somehow lost to Grant.
There have been a number of other questionable elections but until Donald Trump, no candidate has ever claimed that the election was rigged and fraudulent. This may have been because the integrity of election process was considered far more important than winning an election. It was considered the heart and soul of American democracy.
The damage to our electoral process by the Trump false allegation can't be undone. The real loser in the 2020 election is not Trump but the faith in our electoral system.
10 Bizarre Moments in Presidential Elections