Donald Trump has a legitimate reason to be concerned the November presidential election could be "rigged" against him, considering recent events, Newsmax TV host J.D. Hayworth said Thursday on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews."

Hayworth pointed to his own former home state of Arizona where he served as a member of Congress from 2003 to 2007 where two top Republican state officials have said they won't enforce voter ID laws. He also mentioned Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's plan to sign 200,000 individual pardons after the state Supreme Court rejected his blanket pardon of felons, which would allow them to vote.

Hayworth noted even former President Jimmy Carter, for whom Matthews once worked as a speechwriter, endorsed voter ID when he was on a bipartisan commission in 2005 with former Republican Secretary of State James Baker.

"Fine. That's their opinion," Matthews said. "Not mine."

Matthews pressed Hayworth as to why Trump would be complaining about rigged elections this early in the cycle unless he's concerned he's going to lose.

"Because there are legitimate concerns," Hayworth said. "There are legitimate concerns that efforts were made, for example, in North Carolina last month, where three federal appeals court judges said they could determine the intent of the Legislature. I don't know how they can move into clairvoyancy, but they have done so and that stinks to high heaven."