A recent university analysis has given a basis for the Trump argument that there is significant voter fraud.  Old Dominion associate professor Jesse Richman, through an online, survey has suggested that 100,000 non-citizens may have cast votes for Hillary Clinton.  The extension of this analysis is that as many as 800,000 non-citizens could have voted for the Clinton candidacy.  Richman cautions that this number is likely too high, though.  Some Republicans want to avoid this issue, as they fear a legitimacy backlash.  Democrats at first laughed about this but now want to stop any search for information.

Trump’s pop statement after a congressional leadership meeting earlier in the week has reopened the issue despite attempts on the left to quiet it.  Democrats claim that this investigation will result in voter suppression.  The question is whether these suppressed voters are eligible under our laws.  In some states, registration requires persons only to certify eligibility.  In Washington State, a driver’s license and state ID is required.  The voter certifies eligibility.  Other states such as New York give registration forms to persons when they get automobile licenses.  California also encourages non-citizens to gain driver’s licenses.  This system can unintentionally register non-eligible persons to vote.

Further, the vote recount requested by Jill Stein in Michigan ended when the vote count in Detroit was found to exceed the number of persons that actually came to vote.  The system is managed by the states individually.  The real concern for Democrats is that systematic violations will be uncovered.

The system does not eliminate voter registrations in multiple states when people move from one state to another.  One report claims that over 6 million voters have registrations in more than one state.  The number is estimated by others to be closer to 3 million.  This now threatens the integrity and confidence of all sides.

Finally, the registration rolls do not always purge dead persons.  In this analysis, it is estimated that 1.8 million registrants have died but not been removed from the rolls.  Attempts to purge these names have been met with resistance, which furthers concerns of fraud.

Now that an investigation will begin on Trump’s order, the opposition cites the cost of this effort.  When Democrats argue about excessive costs, one might question the motives.  Perhaps Trump has found another issue with which to tweak the Democrats.  In any event, he has changed the press narrative from Putin to voter eligibility.  Smart like the fox, perhaps.