In a recent radio interview, former Gov. Paul LePage blamed his defeat in Maine’s 2022 gubernatorial election on, of all things, “noncitizens and undocumented voting.”

Let’s consider his claim.

Since Gov. Janet Mills secured 376,934 votes to LePage’s 287,304, the Democratic incumbent would have had to have pulled in 89,631 ballots from “noncitizens” and “undocumented” voters.

If that really happened, Mills snagged more illegal votes than the entire population of Lewiston, Bangor and Waterville put together … including children.

Where did they all come from? LePage, a Republican who filed this month to run for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat, didn’t say.

During the summer, perhaps Mills could hide 90,000 people by mixing them into the line at Red’s Eats. In the month of November? I don’t see it. I wrote a story in 2020 about a tall tale that China had somehow hidden 50,000 troops in the woods of Washington County. Maybe LePage thinks those people are still there — and that they each voted in 2022. Twice.

Conspiracy theories often imagine buses with people from away hauled in to vote.

The average bus, if a few dozen people stood in the aisle, holds fewer than 100 passengers. But to make the math simple, as journalists usually do, let’s assume buses can each transport 100 people. To bring in almost 90,000 “noncitizens and undocumented” people would require 900 busloads.

Perhaps careful planning could stagger 900 buses into an array of entry points into Maine over time without anyone taking special notice. Early November would be a little late for watching the leaves change, but buses full of tourists are never rare in the Pine Tree State.

But there’s another problem with LePage’s theory. Where do 900 buses discharge voters to cast ballots?

As it happened, on Election Day in 2022, I went to the senior center in Auburn to cast my ballot and ran into LePage himself. I even took a little video of the former governor pleading with Mainers to show up and vote.

One thing neither LePage nor I noticed at one of the state’s busier polling places that day was a single soul who didn’t appear to have every right to be there. There sure as heck weren’t any buses full of ’em.

Look at the town-by-town voting records of past gubernatorial races and another thing jumps out: there’s no indication that any town had a big increase in voter participation.

It’s not as if, say, Bethel or Blue Hill suddenly showed an extra 90,000 votes — and all of them for Mills.

LePage is claiming that the 2022 election was “bought” with all these illegal votes. The former governor didn’t bother to say who bought them or how. He didn’t explain how those voters made it to Maine or were in a position to cast ballots.

Remember, we’re not talking about a handful of immigrants who might have voted illegally. Something along those lines doesn’t seem far-fetched. For LePage’s assertion to be true, there had to be at least 89,631 of them.

The onus is on LePage, then, to prove it. Show us how the Democrats bought or stole the 2022 election.

Lying doesn’t keep people out of the U.S. House, to be sure, but perhaps it should. A basic respect for the truth isn’t that much to ask.