Don't Certify Electors and Electoral College Vote Without Full Recount
Published on
Monday, December 12, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Don't Certify Electors and Electoral College Vote Without Full Recount
by
Marjorie Cohn, Jeanne Mirer
Tabulators work on recounting presidential ballots in Dane County on in
Madison, Wisconsin last week. (Photo: Andy Manis/Getty Images)
The American people deserve to know that the outcome of this election is
actually valid.
We are tired of hearing the pundits say that the election is over and there
is nothing we can do when there are significant questions raised by the
recounts that have been going on in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as
well issues raised in a recent lawsuit seeking a recount in Florida.
Hillary Clinton has garnered almost 3 million more popular votes than Donald
Trump. The polls and exit polls in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania
showed Clinton was the winner. The recount efforts by the Stein campaign
have revealed that many votes remained uncounted at the time those three
states were called for Trump. These efforts have also raised many concerns
about the validity of the outcome even before the CIA reported the intent of
the Russians to influence the results of the election. Under these
circumstances it is absolutely imperative that there be a full recount and
investigation into potential hacking in these states, before the electors
are certified and the votes of the Electoral College counted.
While states generally have been granted the right to set the rules of the
election and terms of re-counts, what has happened to the efforts in the
three states is alarming. In each state there have been substantial outcome
determinative questions raised by the initial investigations but there have
been many objections raised and appeals filed. The Stein efforts are not
technically over but they may have hit a roadblock.
In Michigan, the preliminary results of the recount before the court stopped
it showed that there were 75,000 ballots where the scanning machines did not
pick up a vote for president in Detroit and Flint Michigan. These votes
need to be hand-counted.
In Wisconsin, the different precincts and counties were given the right to
choose the method of recount. In Milwaukee County, the ballots were
recounted by the same machines that initially counted them. The codes to
determine whether there were problems in the programming of the machines
were not held in escrow by the state as required and the company that
created the codes is now refusing to turn them over.
In Pennsylvania, Trump's lead was almost cut in half as a result of actually
counting more votes. Seventy percent of the precincts use voting machines
which do not have a paper trail to ensure back-up paper ballots to confirm
the votes. The court will not allow recounts in any precincts until three
voters in the precinct present affidavits to support the recount. There are
9,000 precincts. Thus, only 30% of the precincts could be hand-recounted.
It is also unclear whether the codes of the paperless machines will be made
available to investigate whether they were subjected to tampering.
In the last few weeks since the recount has proceeded, Donald Trump has
selected for cabinet posts persons who are in total opposition to the laws
they are being asked to enforce (e.g. Pruitt at EPA, DeVos at Education,
Puzder at Labor). His stated opposition to Wall Street has proven false
with four high level appointees hailing from Goldman Sachs. After opposing
cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, Trump appears to be
supporting the privatization of Social Security and Medicare and block
granting Medicaid. Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice for Attorney
General, has a checkered past with hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
From seeking to repeal New Deal legislation to promoting fossil fuels to
accelerate climate change, to privatizing education and giving more money to
the one per cent, the extent of radical change the president-elect is
seeking makes it even more imperative that there is certainty as to who was
the actual winner of the election.
So far the Stein campaign has spent millions of dollars on recounts, which
have been hit with obstacles and pushback by the Trump campaign. But the
efforts raised many questions about the validity of giving the election to
Trump. Under the circumstances, the American people have the right to ensure
that a full investigation and verification of the vote be undertaken before
the states certify the electors.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Marjorie Cohn
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Don't Certify Electors and Electoral College Vote Without Full Recount
Published on
Monday, December 12, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Don't Certify Electors and Electoral College Vote Without Full Recount
by
Marjorie Cohn, Jeanne Mirer
. 6 Comments
.
. Tabulators work on recounting presidential ballots in Dane County on
in Madison, Wisconsin last week. (Photo: Andy Manis/Getty Images)
. The American people deserve to know that the outcome of this
election is actually valid.
. We are tired of hearing the pundits say that the election is over
and there is nothing we can do when there are significant questions raised
by the recounts that have been going on in Michigan, Wisconsin and
Pennsylvania, as well issues raised in a recent lawsuit seeking a recount in
Florida.
. Hillary Clinton has garnered almost 3 million more popular votes
than Donald Trump. The polls and exit polls in Michigan, Wisconsin and
Pennsylvania showed Clinton was the winner. The recount efforts by the Stein
campaign have revealed that many votes remained uncounted at the time those
three states were called for Trump. These efforts have also raised many
concerns about the validity of the outcome even before the CIA reported the
intent of the Russians to influence the results of the election. Under these
circumstances it is absolutely imperative that there be a full recount and
investigation into potential hacking in these states, before the electors
are certified and the votes of the Electoral College counted.
. While states generally have been granted the right to set the rules
of the election and terms of re-counts, what has happened to the efforts in
the three states is alarming. In each state there have been substantial
outcome determinative questions raised by the initial investigations but
there have been many objections raised and appeals filed. The Stein efforts
are not technically over but they may have hit a roadblock.
In Michigan, the preliminary results of the recount before the court stopped
it showed that there were 75,000 ballots where the scanning machines did not
pick up a vote for president in Detroit and Flint Michigan. These votes need
to be hand-counted.
In Wisconsin, the different precincts and counties were given the right to
choose the method of recount. In Milwaukee County, the ballots were
recounted by the same machines that initially counted them. The codes to
determine whether there were problems in the programming of the machines
were not held in escrow by the state as required and the company that
created the codes is now refusing to turn them over.
In Pennsylvania, Trump's lead was almost cut in half as a result of actually
counting more votes. Seventy percent of the precincts use voting machines
which do not have a paper trail to ensure back-up paper ballots to confirm
the votes. The court will not allow recounts in any precincts until three
voters in the precinct present affidavits to support the recount. There are
9,000 precincts. Thus, only 30% of the precincts could be hand-recounted. It
is also unclear whether the codes of the paperless machines will be made
available to investigate whether they were subjected to tampering.
In the last few weeks since the recount has proceeded, Donald Trump has
selected for cabinet posts persons who are in total opposition to the laws
they are being asked to enforce (e.g. Pruitt at EPA, DeVos at Education,
Puzder at Labor). His stated opposition to Wall Street has proven false with
four high level appointees hailing from Goldman Sachs. After opposing cuts
to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, Trump appears to be supporting the
privatization of Social Security and Medicare and block granting Medicaid.
Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice for Attorney General, has a checkered
past with hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. From seeking to repeal New
Deal legislation to promoting fossil fuels to accelerate climate change, to
privatizing education and giving more money to the one per cent, the extent
of radical change the president-elect is seeking makes it even more
imperative that there is certainty as to who was the actual winner of the
election.
So far the Stein campaign has spent millions of dollars on recounts, which
have been hit with obstacles and pushback by the Trump campaign. But the
efforts raised many questions about the validity of giving the election to
Trump. Under the circumstances, the American people have the right to ensure
that a full investigation and verification of the vote be undertaken before
the states certify the electors.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
/author/marjorie-cohn
/author/marjorie-cohn/author/marjorie-cohn
http://www.commondreams.org/author/marjorie-cohn
