Just when you thought it was all over, you’re heaving a sigh of relief and, despite your reservations about Donald Trump’s imminent presidency, you’re actually pretty pleased you don’t have to think about the sham that was the US presidential election battle of 2016, you hear there is going to be a recount.
Wait, what?! Why? Please make it stop.
Over the weekend several news sites reported that recounts would be taking place in the state of Wisconsin after Hillary Clinton’s campaign said that they would help Green candidate Jill Stein’s team in their effort to secure another look at the numbers.Stein is also pushing for recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
So what does this mean? In reality it’s very unlikely to change anything. Hillary Clinton won around two million votes more than Donald Trump in the popular vote, but he more than exceeded the required 270 electoral college votes needed to secure the presidency. So what's the point of reopening this wound? Well, what a recount will do is make sure that accurate final totals are reported and either confirm or, more likely, rule out allegations of electoral fraud.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign's general counsel, Marc Elias, said there was no evidence to conclude the election had been sabotaged, but 'we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported'.
However, that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump from muddying the water as usual. His response to the recount rumblings was voiced via a petulant Twitter outburst, as per:
As The New York Times have reported Trump’s claims that ‘millions of people voted illegally’ have absolutely no basis in fact whatsoever. While the outcome of recounts, at this point, remains uncertain, what is certain is that this isn't the first and it won’t be the last time that America’s President-elect sends angry conspiracy theory tweets.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.