Was The Presidential Election Stolen?
For months the nation heard from Donald Trump that the election was rigged. It may have been, say computer scientists, but not by Hillary Clinton.
Some of said Trump’s narrow victories in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which gave him the presidency, raise questions.
“A group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers have found irregularities in results in at least three swing states, and they are urging Hillary Clinton and her campaign to challenge the results of the 2016 presidential election,” says Politicus.
Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine reported:
“The group, which 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.”
During the campaign Wikileaks repeatedly leaked emails from the Clinton campaign intended to hurt her. Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Russia was involved in the hacking.
The critics of this election say electronic voting machines, susceptible to hacking, produced different results than paper ballots.
“If there were such a thing as a textbook case worthy of a results challenge, the 2016 election would be it,” Politicus reported.
While much attention was focused on Clinton winning the popular vote by 2 million votes, it was more striking that the three swing states were carried by barely a total of 100,000 votes.
Even Republicans had questions. “Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called on Congress to investigate whether Russia interfered with this year’s presidential contest through a cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee’s email servers.
“We cannot sit on the sidelines as a party and let allegations against a foreign government interfering in our election process go unanswered because it may have been beneficial to our cause,” Graham said, according to New York magazine.
Reveal
The idea of a conspiracy to steal the election was widely rejected because it was seen as requiring a massive hacking operation. Yet, if it happened this year, it only involved 100,000.votes out of more than 120 million cast because the race was so close.
Many journalists questioned why Trump was focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania since they were sold Democrat states.
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