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Democracy Chronicles

How Vote Recounts Strengthen Our Democracy

by Amy Seon - November 27, 2016

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Vote Recounts

Didn’t he say the election was rigged? Yes, Donald Trump did say that, but that was before Election Day, and before, to the shock of America and to the rest of the world, he won the Electoral College, and thereby, the presidency. Not only did he win the key battleground states of Florida and Ohio, but he also won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, states that haven’t gone to a Republican in decades. This caught many (or virtually all) pollsters by surprise. Election experts, however, have now claimed that they have detected irregularities in those states’ election results in counties where electronic voting machines were used.

Could it have been from hacking by the Russians? Could it have been that some votes that were cast were ignored? Could it have been from just plain inaccurate vote counting? No matter the reason, recounts are necessary in order to throw away any doubt that we had an illegitimate election.

Vote RecountsHillary Clinton won the popular vote, and if legislators got rid of the antiquated system called the Electoral College that they should have gotten rid of after the 2000 election when Al Gore won the popular vote, we would have the right person, that is, the candidate who actually got the most votes, on her way to the White House. Every vote should count, no matter where you live, and it is ironic that the Electoral College was created, in part, to prevent people like Donald Trump from being elected, a demagogue who is not fit to hold office, in the first place.

But as we all know by now, we don’t really vote directly for the president. We elect electors who make up the Electoral College. The founding fathers intended to allow electors to vote for the most qualified candidate and not to be tied down to vote for the candidate that won their state. But how many will actually have the courage to use their position and vote for Hillary? Why don’t they want to exercise their right to allow the candidate that actually won the popular vote by more than two million-and counting? Is our democracy failing us?

It seems hypocritical that the US, the beacon of democracy to many countries around the world, does not take democracy seriously enough to improve upon the methods of voting. Experts were warning of the susceptibility of voting machines being hacked during the entire election season, and the majority of us, including the media, are saying, “Eh, close enough.” The recounts that are set to take place in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan may not alter the outcome, but we need to ensure that the mistakes made in this past election won’t happen in future ones.

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Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: Electoral College, Founding Fathers, Proportional Representation, Spying and Privacy, Voting Machines

About Amy Seon

Amy Seon writes for Democracy Chronicles from her home in New York City. Checkout the rest of our international team of authors as well. Together, they help cover free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael Ossipoff says

    December 4, 2016 at 9:51 pm

    What really needs a re-count is the Democrat primary. Does anyone think that it’s a bit fishy that someone as despised as Hillary got more votes than someone as popular as Bernie?

    Communications have turned up that show that the Democrat National Committee was talking with the Hillary campaign about how to keep Bernie from winning. He was denied airtime. He was only mentioned, or allowed to speak, for a fraction of the airtime that Hillary got.

    With that demonstrated intent, and given our lunverifiable vote-counting, and comparing Bernie’s & Hillary’s popularity–How likely is it that Hillary really outpolled Bernie?

    _That’s_ what should be re-counted.

    And if thatre-count finds any count-fraud or tampering evidence, then the in-valid general election must be repeated, with the right candidates this time.

    If you say that Hillary is the rightful winner, then I reply, “Probably not. Bernie is probably the rightful winner.”

    I’ve been saying for a long time that our thoroughly dishonest media, and the intentions and motivation that it reveals, along with the unverifiable vote-count, and the known count-fraud in, for example G.W. Bush’s elections, and the tamper-evidence found in some crucial swing-states in Trump’s election–All these things point to dishonest, fraudulent, illegitimate elections.

    Either we get fraud-free verifiable elections, and honest, open, participatory and agenda-free media, or we all must make it known that we reject the elections and their results, and demand democracy. Is that too much to ask?

    It isn’t just the unverifiable vote-count, and the evident count-fraud.

    Additionally, a consistently, systematically, methodically disinformational media system is enough to make a so-called “democracy” illegitimate. How can it be called a democracy when the public are denied communication with eachother, by what amounts to a state propaganda media system?

    Voters don’t know what’s being offered, because all they have the opportunity to hear about in the state-media is the state party-line, the usual corporate-agenda disinformational “news” and commentary.? …and the Republican/Democrat policies, but no proposals or solutions that differ from that official policy.

    Honest media are a necessary component of democracy, and the lack of it is one of the things that makes our “democracy” illegitimate & phony.

    So Bernie’s running in the Democrat primary, and the DNC is talking about how to keep him from winning the nomination? How’s that for impartiality and legitimacy?

    It’s all 100% phony, and the only power we have is our power to make it known that we know it’s phony, and that we don’t recognize it as democracy, and that we don’t recognize it as legitimate.

    Michael Ossipoff

    Michael Ossipoff

    Reply

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