It ain’t over till it’s over. A cabal of computer scientists and election lawyers believe they have found something funny in the voting trends and are trying to get Hillary Clinton to challenge the election results in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania
According to NY Magazine the clique of Hillary supporters “includes voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, believes they’ve found persuasive evidence that results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked. The group is so far not speaking on the record about their findings and is focused on lobbying the Clinton team in private.”
Last week the group had a conference call with Jon Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias and laid out their findings:
The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. While it’s important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review — especially in light of the fact that the Obama White House has accused the Russian government of hacking the Democratic National Committee.
But didn’t the lefties bash the Trump campaign for saying the election could be rigged?
According to current tallies, Trump has won 290 Electoral College votes to Clinton’s 232, with Michigan’s 16 votes not apportioned because the race there is still too close to call. It would take overturning the results in both Wisconsin (10 Electoral College votes) and Pennsylvania (20 votes), in addition to winning Michigan’s 16, for Clinton to win the Electoral College.
Apparently Trump may have already lost some electoral votes because (according to NY Mag) “At least six electoral voters have said they would not vote for Trump, despite the fact that he won their states.” Despite that all three of those states’ results would have to be overturned for the overall results to change. And the possibility of things being over turned are a very long-shot. Keep in mind there is no real evidence of tampering, just circumstantial computer trends. And an investigation wouldn’t mean a recount, but an investigation of every vote in every voting machine to make sure there was no hanky-panky.
Not only is overturning the results a long shot, but Hillary is running out of time to contest the results the deadline in Wisconsin to file for a recount is Friday; in Pennsylvania, it’s Monday; and Michigan is next Wednesday.
Also complicating matters, a senior Clinton adviser said, is that the White House, focused on a smooth transfer of power, does not want Clinton to challenge the election result. Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri did not respond to a request for comment. But some Clinton allies are intent on pushing the issue. This afternoon, Huma Abedin’s sister Heba encouraged her Facebook followers to lobby the Justice Department to audit the 2016 vote. “Call the DOJ…and tell them you want the votes audited,” she wrote. “Even if it’s busy, keep calling.”
While this challenge seems like a very, very, long-shot, a month ago a Trump victory seemed to be a long-shot. On the other hand I am sure that the Trump team is very aware of what is happening and has a team of lawyers working on contesting any challenge that comes up.
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