Trump's voter fraud chief says 'we may never know' how many votes candidates got in 2016 election

Several studies have proven that voter fraud is extremely rare

Donald Trump speaks during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House on 19 July 2017 (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump's voter fraud commission chief said "we may never know" how many votes Hillary Clinton or Mr Trump received in the 2016 election.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves on the Presidential Commission on Voter Integrity, cast doubt about the election results on MSNBC, but did not provide evidence to support his claims.

The former Secretary of State and First Lady won the popular vote by 2.87 million votes according to the certified records of the Federal Election Commission. Mr Trump, however, won the electoral college vote and thus became the President.

“What I'm saying is, let's suppose that the commission determined that there were a certain number of votes cast by ineligible voters. You still won’t know whether those people who were ineligible voted for Trump or for Clinton or for somebody else," said Mr Kobach.

“You can obviously, based on the data, you can make some very educated guesses.”

Mr Kobach did not limit his doubt to Ms Clinton's popular vote win either.

"Absolutely" Mr Trump's vote tally is in question, Mr Kobach noted.

Following the election, Mr Trump has repeatedly said "millions of illegal votes" were cast during the election, but no proof has been presented to the public.

He has repeatedly claimed that voter fraud was a problem and benefited Ms Clinton, despite his win. He said ""we have a lot to look into" regarding the deceased, illegal voting by immigrants and undocumented persons, and voters registered in multiple states.

In fact, several studies and analyses done by several universities and the non-partisan Government Accountability Office all said the same thing: voter fraud or impersonation of voters is extremely rare.

The voter fraud commission, led by Vice President Mike Pence, held its first public meeting on 19 July, after coming under fire for hosting private conference calls that the American Civil Liberties Union said violates federal law.

In that private meeting, Mr Kobach notified members that the commission would request states for the personal information of registered voters, which included names, addresses, party affiliations, and the last four digits of social security numbers.

Since the 14 July letter request, 44 states and the District of Columbia have refused to turn over the data, voicing privacy concerns.

Mr Trump said at the public meeting that "people would come up to me and express their concerns about voter inconsistencies and irregularities, which they saw," Trump said. "In some cases, having to do with very large numbers of people in certain states.”

A report from the commission is expected next year.