{"id":1539,"date":"2016-11-23T19:17:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T19:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jessicaeblack.wordpress.com\/?p=1539"},"modified":"2020-01-14T18:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T02:01:00","slug":"recount-the-votes-so-trump-can-be-president-and-we-can-stop-listening-to-all-the-reasons-clinton-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jessicaeblack.org\/everythingelse\/2016\/11\/23\/recount-the-votes-so-trump-can-be-president-and-we-can-stop-listening-to-all-the-reasons-clinton-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"Recount the votes so Trump can be President (& we can stop listening to all the reasons Clinton lost)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday we started to see calls for Hillary Clinton to challenge the election results in the mainstream press.  I had already read this piece (You\u2019re not just imagining it: the Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump vote totals do look rigged<\/a>), which fairly clearly lays out the argument.  Mostly, it’s about trends and patterns: yes there are many interruptions of the pattern, that is why the results were such a surprise.  Without running the analyses, though, I would wager a bet that they are all within a statistical margin of error.  Yes, when you look at it as a whole (especially given the emerging numbers in the swing states<\/a> and evidence of Russian hacking<\/a>), it seems very suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night, I shared the CNN account (Computer scientists urge Clinton campaign to challenge election results<\/a>) on Facebook.  This morning, The Guardian published Hillary Clinton urged to call for election vote recount in battleground states<\/a>.  Will Clinton do so?  She probably does not want to, because, like Obama, she is more concerned with a peaceful transition and the good of the country than with holding power herself.  She has conceded.  I believe that Hillary Clinton should not challenge the results, but I believe the Justice Department should open an investigation (although no, your call will not encourage them to do so<\/a>; they need evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I say the DoJ should open an  investigation, I am presuming that evidence exists (that can<\/em> include statistical anomalies; I run statistical analyses all the time; when the results are surprising, I check my data, rerun all the analyses, and then think about my method, especially data collection.  <\/em><\/strong>Sometimes the results really are just surprising.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will they turn up evidence of fraud?  Possibly, but I doubt it.  Even if they did, Hillary Clinton conceded.<\/strong>
[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=khK9fIgoNjQ&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, if the vote recount were decisively in her favor, she would be well within her rights to retract the concession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let’s think about why the election may have been rigged and who might have done it.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump did not rig the election.  He did not expect to win; he was completely unprepared to be President.  I don’t believe he wanted<\/em> to be President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s pretend that Putin rigged the election.  (When I say pretend, I mean accept the condition, not that he did not do it. I do not know.)  His purpose would be to weaken the United Stated by causing domestic unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n