Is a Federal Commission on Illegal Voting Necessary? Trump Thinks So

President Donald Trump is setting up a national commission to examine his unsubstantiated claim that millions of people illegally cast ballots in the last election. Hillary Clinton beat Trump by around three million votes nationally, but the Constitution tasks the Electoral College with deciding elections based on a state’s number of members in the U.S. House, plus their two senators. Trump won the Electoral College 304-227.

The commission will be headed up by Vice President Mike Pence and will include about a dozen other members. Their mandate is to investigate whether illegal voting, voter fraud, and voter suppression took place. Democrats say the commission is unnecessary because the president and Republicans have offered no proof to back up their claims.

“It’s a right wing myth that they keep perpetuating every couple of years. What the Republican Party should do, including the administration, in the next election is go out and work on getting people’s votes instead of trying to prevent them from voting,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) told Countable who says he thinks the president is trying to suppress people’s right to vote. “Oh I think it’s an effort directly to that for sure.”

Some Republicans are welcoming the commission. “I think voter fraud is a problem, I hadn’t given the commission idea much attention, but I think voter fraud is a serious problem,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) told Countable. He used to run the Senate Republican campaign arm, but, like the president, he could offer no proof of mass voter fraud in any election.

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-- Matt Laslo

(Photo Credit: Bob Doran via Flickr / Creative Commons)