[1] He is known for his 2014 study with David Earnest about illegal non-citizen voting, which was widely rejected by the broader academic community[2] and was notably misused by Donald Trump and the election denial movement in the United States to justify false claims of widespread fraud.
[2] A 2015 study of the same data by CCES coordinators Stephen Ansolabehere, Brian Schaffner and Samantha Luks, published in the same journal, found no evidence of noncitizen voting.
[9][12] Brian Schaffner wrote about Richman’s study, "I can say unequivocally that this research is not only wrong, it is irresponsible social science and should never have been published in the first place.
"[16] Spenser Mestel commented on how unusual it was for Richman to make such broad claims and express so much certainty about his results at the time, which is not typical in studies on voting behavior that are heavily qualified and narrow.
[4] In 2017, The New York Times said that the debate has moved on from Richman's study (whose claims it described as having fallen apart) to whether or not any evidence for noncitizen voting exists.
"[20] Tomas Lopez of the Brennan Center criticized Richman as putting out big estimates but not checking to see if they are accurate.
[4] ProPublica summarized Judge Julie Robinson's assessment of Richman's conclusions as "'confusing, inconsistent and methodologically flawed,' and adding that they were 'credibly dismantled' by Ansolabehere.
He also examined nationwide data from the 2022 Cooperative Election Study (CES), and found that just under one percent of non-citizens were registered to vote.
[8][22] U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton wrote in her ruling on the case that "the Court found Dr. Richman’s testimony credible and affords his opinions considerable weight.