This is huge, folks. Believe me, this is huuuge.

For almost seventeen months we have been seeing headlines non-stop about the election. We have been getting every single update possible regarding the election and what this person or that person said, whether or not this person or that person will declare candidacy or drop out, and even whether or not candidates will go to jail. Every election seems to have everyone saying things like, “It has never been as crazy as this” or “I have lost faith in our country” or even “I’m moving to Canada if *insert candidate here* gets elected”, but I think that we can all agree that nothing has compared to this current one.

Donald Trump, a presidential candidate and the nominee from the Republican Party, has undoubtedly generated some jaw-dropping headlines and generated immeasurable controversy. So, why does it matter that he is claiming that the election is rigged against him?

For one thing, it resonates with the American people. Donald Trump is being laughed at by many throughout the country, from those in the media to the President of the United States to the American people, and even Hillary Clinton herself.

The question here is- does he actually have a case or is he crazy?

It wouldn’t be possible for one person to rig an election so big and diverse as that of a presidential election in the United States, right? First of all, elections do not get decided by popular vote. Rather, it is determined by the Electoral College. This means that instead of one, massive election happening, there are 51 (including Washington D.C.) elections occurring all over the country. After that, there are hundreds of elections occurring at the county level in each state and, even within that, there are thousands of elections occurring at the district level as well. You’re all probably asking this: With all of the protocol and procedures that are in place, how could anyone change the vote on a scale that large without anyone noticing? If you’re thinking like me, you’re right. There is practically no way for votes to be changed on that kind of scale, but that doesn’t mean that America hasn’t seen controversy surrounding the integrity of the election process.

Back in 2000, when George W. Bush ran against Al Gore, the first instance of possible electoral rigging took place. The election was extremely close. Bush was winning in the Electoral College count while Al Gore had the popular vote. It all came down to Florida - in fact, it all came down to 537 votes that gave Bush the election. Under state law, Gore demanded a recount of Florida and, while the state originally obliged, the Supreme Court ruled that the recount was unconstitutional and stopped the recount thus handing the election to Bush. What was interesting is that the Supreme Court at the time was Republican controlled and Jeb Bush, George W. Bush’s brother, was the governor of Florida.

Weird, right?

In more recent years, there have been many other scandals to circulate the press.

For example, the Democratic primary election of 2016 between Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Just before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., a scandal broke loose about the head of the convention and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz. Wikileaks leaked thousands of emails that included indisputable evidence that many of the top members of the Democratic Party conspired against Sanders to ensure Clinton securing the nomination. The emails showed proof of voter suppression, spreading false scandals about Sanders in key states, and secretly campaigning for Clinton behind the scenes. Shultz was forced to step down as head of the DNC just after the convention.

Right now, fewer and fewer people are trusting the election process and for a good reason, at that. Too many scandals are coming to light. What makes this different from some of the other things that Trump has said in the past, is that this strikes a chord with the American people. There is more evidence than you might think of tampering with elections in key states, counties, and districts and I haven’t even mentioned Ohio in 2004 or all of the possible issues with electronic ballot machines.

This could just be an excuse Donald will use if he loses, or it could be somethin’ huge… (pun intended).

“I’m just saying, my people think it just might be somethin’ huge.” – Donald Trump

Check these sources out if you’d like to hear more!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/29/uselections2000.usa

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2005/11/recounting-ohio