A study from Old Dominion University reportedly shows that 800,000 noncitizens might have cast a ballot for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 election. Rowan Scarborough of The Washington Times reported that political scientist Jesse Richman and others estimated that 6.4 percent of the 20 million noncitizens living in the U.S. voted in the past election, which could have meant that Clinton received a little over 830,000 votes (834,381 to be exact). As Democrats love to point out, the former secretary of state won 2.8 million more popular votes than Donald J. Trump, which is irrelevant because that’s not how we elect the president. At the same time, the estimates are well short of what President Trump said regarding million of illegal votes being cast in the election.
The president stated that he wants an investigation into the matter, though House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UY) said that no investigation will be coming from his committee due to lack of evidence.
Via Washington Times:
Political scientist Jesse Richman of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has worked with colleagues to produce groundbreaking research on noncitizen voting, and this week he posted a blog in response to Mr. Trump’s assertion.Based on national polling by a consortium of universities, a report by Mr. Richman said 6.4 percent of the estimated 20 million adult noncitizens in the U.S. voted in November. He extrapolated that that percentage would have added 834,381 net votes for Mrs. Clinton, who received about 2.8 million more votes than Mr. Trump.
Mr. Richman calculated that Mrs. Clinton would have collected 81 percent of noncitizen votes.
“Is it plausible that non-citizen votes added to Clinton’s margin? Yes,” Mr. Richman wrote. “Is it plausible that non-citizen votes account for the entire nation-wide popular vote margin held by Clinton? Not at all.”
Still, the finding is significant because it means noncitizens may have helped Mrs. Clinton carry a state or finish better than she otherwise would have.
[…]
Mr. Richman relies on a one-of-a-kind poll: the Cooperative Congressional Election Survey. Every two years, a consortium of 28 universities produces a detailed report on voters and their views based on polling by YouGov.
Tucked inside the lengthy questionnaire is a question on citizenship status: A significant number of respondents anonymously acknowledged they were not citizens when they voted.
Three professors at Old Dominion University — Mr. Richman, Gulshan A. Chattha and David C. Earnest — took these answers, did further research and extrapolated that of a 19.4 million estimate of adult noncitizens, about 620,000 were illegally registered to vote in the 2008 presidential election. Using other measuring tools, they said, the actual number of noncitizen voters could be as low as 38,000 and as high as 2.8 million.
The publication added that for days the media has excoriated the Trump administration for suggesting that millions of votes were cast illegally. Well, this could be evidence that illegal votes were cast. But given that it’s nowhere near the figure the Trump White House has suggested (5 million)—and the notion that it doesn’t account for Clinton’s popular vote advantage, it may be prudent for Trump to keep his eye on the ball: tax reform, job creation, border security, trade, and repealing Obamacare. Trump decided not to sign an executive order to launch an investigation into the matter yesterday. Guy mentioned that the study by Richman is a bit questionable concerning methodology.
Is voter fraud disconcerting? Yes. But Trump won. He has bigger fish to fry and when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is confirmed as our next attorney general—you can bet that protecting the integrity of the election process will take priority in future elections as long as Trump is president.