The recount of the Presidential election ballots began on Thursday in Wisconsin and may or may not soon be underway in Michigan and Pennsylvania, depending on how the judges in those states rule on the objection to the recounts filed by Donald Trump and his backers.
I for one hope the judges in those states rule in favor of the recounts. Because I for one want the recounts to happen. I need them to happen.
I for one hope the judges in those states rule in favor of the recounts. Because I for one want the recounts to happen. I need them to happen.
| And not because I'm a whiny little cry baby, as Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump's motor-mouthpiece has labeled those calling for the recounts. |  |
And it's also not because I'm suddenly possessed of some re-ignited hope that Hillary Clinton might end up winning the states in question, but then again one never knows.
And that is, in truth, the reason why I feel like I, like Jill Stein and and probably a good many other of my fellow Americans, need to see the results of the recount: because if the recount doesn't happen, we'll be vexed by the thought of never really knowing.
It was my daughter who best verbalized this in a conversation I had with her yesterday.
The problem, said my daughter, is that we tend to look at life through a lens of logic. We expect things make sense. Two plus two equals four.
For many of us the results of this election felt like two plus two inexplicably ended up equaling nine. And it's not a matter of people being unhappy because their candidate lost - I mean, of course we were unhappy, but that isn't what I'm talking about here; it's that, having one's sense of the election's logical outcome shaped by all the scientifically calculated pre-election polls, by all the polls that calculated Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as solidly, unquestionably Blue territory right up to election day, by all the predictions that gave Hillary anywhere from a 70% to a 90% chance of winning, by all the logical never-fail prognostications that pointed to a Hillary win, it's been hard to wrap one's head around what actually came to pass.
So while some woke up on November 9 blindsided by pure joy, some by pure grief, others of us, me included, were hit with a weird sense of disorientation. As if things that everybody knows don't happen,
And that is, in truth, the reason why I feel like I, like Jill Stein and and probably a good many other of my fellow Americans, need to see the results of the recount: because if the recount doesn't happen, we'll be vexed by the thought of never really knowing.
It was my daughter who best verbalized this in a conversation I had with her yesterday.
The problem, said my daughter, is that we tend to look at life through a lens of logic. We expect things make sense. Two plus two equals four.
For many of us the results of this election felt like two plus two inexplicably ended up equaling nine. And it's not a matter of people being unhappy because their candidate lost - I mean, of course we were unhappy, but that isn't what I'm talking about here; it's that, having one's sense of the election's logical outcome shaped by all the scientifically calculated pre-election polls, by all the polls that calculated Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as solidly, unquestionably Blue territory right up to election day, by all the predictions that gave Hillary anywhere from a 70% to a 90% chance of winning, by all the logical never-fail prognostications that pointed to a Hillary win, it's been hard to wrap one's head around what actually came to pass.
So while some woke up on November 9 blindsided by pure joy, some by pure grief, others of us, me included, were hit with a weird sense of disorientation. As if things that everybody knows don't happen,
| ...like Godzilla decimating Tokyo, |  |
 | ...or unfriendly aliens laying a bang-shang-a-lang on the White House, |
....might suddenly be within the realm of possibility.
But it wasn't a grassroots movement of disbelieving Hillary supporters who first called for the recount. It was several top computer scientists who surmised that something looked amiss in the results calculated by electronic machines in the three states where Trump's victory made the least sense. And though our government officials are generally now assuring us that it's practically impossible for the election machines to have been hacked or tampered with, was the opposite not proved true when our election was tampered with by Russian agents who hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee?*
And in fact was not the possibility of election machines being hacked one that was addressed during the election?
Finally, there's the matter of the provisional and absentee ballots - which generally align with the votes tallied on election day - this time soaring wildly off election day results: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 2.5 million votes.
All of the above have left a mess of loose ends in my mind and in the minds of many that can only be tied off with a double-check of the ballots,
But it wasn't a grassroots movement of disbelieving Hillary supporters who first called for the recount. It was several top computer scientists who surmised that something looked amiss in the results calculated by electronic machines in the three states where Trump's victory made the least sense. And though our government officials are generally now assuring us that it's practically impossible for the election machines to have been hacked or tampered with, was the opposite not proved true when our election was tampered with by Russian agents who hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee?*
And in fact was not the possibility of election machines being hacked one that was addressed during the election?
Finally, there's the matter of the provisional and absentee ballots - which generally align with the votes tallied on election day - this time soaring wildly off election day results: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 2.5 million votes.
All of the above have left a mess of loose ends in my mind and in the minds of many that can only be tied off with a double-check of the ballots,
| ...like the one that is taking place by dedicated bipartisan citizens at this moment in Wisconsin. |  |
We'll see if the Michigan and Pennsylvania recounts happen or if Donald Trump and his supporters will succeed in having the recount effort blocked.
They must be afraid of what the recounters might find.
They must be afraid of what the recounters might find.
*On this subject, why was no action taken by our government over the attempted manipulation in our election by a foreign power? Why was this not considered on the level of an act of war? The answer is probably that the Republicans didn't protest because it suited their purpose and the Democrats mostly let it slide because the information leaked was an embarrassment to them.
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/hillary-clinton-challenge-results/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/vote-recounts-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/trump-recounts-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania.html
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/hillary-clinton-challenge-results/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/vote-recounts-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/trump-recounts-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania.html
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