Donald Trump is now our president, but it has come out that the final vote tally puts him almost three million votes behind Hillary Clinton. His victory comes from his significant advantage in the electoral college. Not being content with winning through this system, Trump wants an investigation to prove that millions of people illegally voted in Clinton’s favor. Democrats and Republicans alike have expressed doubt that anywhere near that many people voted illegally, so where is Trump getting his “three to five million” estimate?
Gregg Phillips is the owner of a software company and creator of an app called VoteStand that allows users to report suspicions of voter fraud. Trump tweeted on January 27 that “Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal.” During a CNN interview, however, Phillips said that it could take “another few months” for him to release his data and methodology.
I am forced to wonder why someone would tweet about widespread voter fraud, then go on CNN and not have proof.
What else is there in the way of evidence? According to one study done by Associate Professor Jesse Richman at Old Dominion University in Nofolk, Virginia, up to 800 thousand people could have voted illegally. Frustrated with the misrepresentation of his study in the media, Richman has said that 100 thousand is the far more realistic number.
Is that a significant number?
Yes, I would say so. But it’s not three million. The study was conducted with voluntary online surveys. Richman and his associate, David Earnest, writing on the Washington Post, cited the “modest” sample size of non-citizen voters, among other things, as reasons to be cautious when drawing broad conclusions based on the study.
During the upcoming investigation that Presiden Trump has ordered, I don’t expect him to find a whole lot of fraud going on, at least not enough to come close to giving him the popular vote. I think it’s just a matter of pride for him at this point; he doesn’t want people thinking that he is in anyway illegitimate even if he did win by the appropriate means.
I’m tired of hearing about voter fraud, and I thought people would stop talking about it after Trump won. I guess that was naïve of me. Whatever the outcome of Trump’s investigation, it’s doubtful that the results will be the end of it.
