Why is TN top state in reporting voter fraud? ‘We’re probably more vigilant’

The New York Times reports making a survey of all 50 states for cases of voter fraud during the November election and finding “next to none” overall. The article says Tennessee, however, was at the top of the national list with “40 credible allegations out of some 4.3 million primary and general election votes.”

So why does Tennessee have the highest number of cases? WPLN asked and reported:

Mark Goins, the state’s director of elections, believes it’s because officials here are looking harder.

“I think we’re probably more vigilant,” he says. “It’s something that we have focused on, somewhat. We’ve encouraged the counties to look for these things.”

Goins declines to give specifics about individual allegations, saying the investigations haven’t been completed. But he says the largest number of cases involve felons who’ve been stripped of their rights to vote. Another big group are people who’ve voted outside their districts.

One case involves a suspicious absentee ballot. The allegation is that it wasn’t filled out by the person who supposedly cast it.

And one other involves a possible non-citizen who voted.

Even if all the allegations prove to be true, the 40 cases would represent less than one vote out of every 100,000 cast this year in Tennessee, according to the Times.

But Goins predicts more suspicious votes will be identified. He says officials plan to keep digging into voter records next year.