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Donald Trump has in recent days raised the specter of massive voter fraud, saying that he could lose in Pennsylvania only if And he鈥檚 proposed a remedy: volunteer poll watchers.

It鈥檚 a remedy that鈥檚 now being trumpeted by white supremacists and far-right conspiracy theorists.

The great irony here is that we have far more to fear from efforts to combat voter fraud, including the potential for an army of Trump poll watchers, than we do from any actual voter fraud.

The claim that the integrity of our electoral system is threatened by people voting more than once, by pretending to be someone else, or by voting when they are not eligible has been a favorite of right-wing politicians and pundits in recent years.

As is well known by now, there is virtually no evidence to support the claim. Nonetheless, this year will have new voter restrictions in place to combat the phantom problem, just in time for the presidential election. The total would have been 17, but federal judges this summer 鈥� possibly the harshest in the country 鈥� and blocked another in North Dakota.

鈥婥ourts also have ruled against all or parts of voter restriction laws in Texas, Wisconsin, and Kansas in recent months. But those remain largely in effect pending further court action.鈥�

Most of these laws include strict photo ID requirements. Some also curtail early voting or limit the way people can register. All are part of a wave of new voting measures, including many enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key portion of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

鈥媁hile politicians who support the laws 鈥� and we鈥檙e talking Republicans here 鈥� say they鈥檙e needed to address voter fraud, they鈥檙e actually designed to suppress the votes of those who are likely to support their opponents. Experts say millions of people, largely the poor and people of color who have long been marginalized and who typically vote for Democrats, could be disenfranchised.

鈥婭n North Carolina, a federal appeals court found that state lawmakers intentionally sought to keep African Americans from the ballot box 鈥� methodically analyzing voting data to 鈥渢arget African Americans with almost surgical precision.鈥� The court also exposed the whole premise of the law as a charade, writing that it 鈥渋mpose[d] cures for problems that did not exist.鈥�

A recent study by a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles proves the point. from 2000 to 2014, he found a grand total of 31 potentially fraudulent votes out of more than 1 billion ballots cast.

But despite all evidence to the contrary, Trump seems convinced that something fishy is afoot. He鈥檚 urged his supporters to become poll watchers, to 鈥�.鈥� Trump鈥檚 campaign also has asking for volunteers to monitor polling places in an effort to 鈥渟top crooked Hillary from rigging this election.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 call to action is now being promoted by white supremacists on Stormfront, the world鈥檚 leading neo-Nazi website, something that鈥檚 not particularly surprising given how Trump has been embraced by the likes of David Duke. A Stormfront thread features a video by Alex Jones, America鈥檚 No. 1 radical-right conspiracy theorist, claiming that 鈥淸t]hey stole the election from [Bernie] Sanders and are planning it for Trump.鈥�

That Jones would be in Trump鈥檚 corner is also not surprising. Trump has long traded in the same kinds of outlandish conspiracy theories that Jones hawks every day. Earlier this year, for example, Jones claimed President Obama is 鈥渉ardcore Wahhabist; he is al-Qaeda.鈥� Trump, of course, was among those who that Obama was some sort of Manchurian candidate who wasn鈥檛 really born in this country.

Trump鈥檚 poll watchers aren鈥檛 going to uncover any voter fraud. What they鈥檙e more likely to do, given the violence we鈥檝e seen at Trump rallies and the support he鈥檚 getting from avowed white supremacists, is intimidate people and suppress the vote.

And that, not surprisingly, is the same goal behind so many of the voter ID laws that have been enacted across the nation.