Ladies and Gentlemen of America, lend me your theorizing ears.
Preface: there is without a doubt, tension in the atmosphere this election season that cannot be simply calmed with a reconciliatory "O-o-h Child, things are gonna get easier", or the Latin Soul of "Don't you Worry Bout a Thing". Let's approach this article with an open mind, and that of a crazed political scientist (like myself), and with the aplomb of an attorney. Theorizing powers go!
Okay, so what do we currently know as public knowledge? We know that the electoral college, not the American public, directly elect the President. We know that November 8th, 2016 was Election Day, and we know that Donald Trump won the Presidential-elect stamp to his name. Let's compound that with other factors such as the breakdown of the votes cast and the relative slope graphs that we see where the belief in the candidates crossed at around 8:00PM. Trump then surged ahead with greater than 95% belief that he would win the Presidential Nomination.
Conceded, but there is one item that has yet to be addressed in this election which is where an attorney's mindset comes in: logic. Remember that the electoral college directly elects the President (based on the notion that all people are self-interested and don't consider a general consensus when making decisions), but they too have to cast their ballots. The real Election Day is December 19th, 2016 where the physical ballots are cast. Americans are currently disillusioned on the notion that our electors will heed their first thoughts and cast their votes as according to the polls seen around the world the night of November 8th.
This is the basis of the trustee model of representation, but who is to say that our electors will vote the way that they initially conceived? Some electors could change their minds on moral, patronage, bribery, hostile, constitutional, or religious grounds - ergo, we could have a critical election where everything goes completely bonkers, and it's all perfectly legal! There is no Constitutional provision that says that electors cannot take back their vote and must adhere to their initial belief in the candidates.
Refraining from using pronouns to describe parts of the population to whom this may apply (remember, this is just a theoretical exploration), many people don't know the possible ramifications of what could happen. Studies have shown that the vast majority of the American public is educated by the media but do not posses the true knowledge of candidate stances across the spectrum. Then again, some people may have decided to vote in a manner that was not viable by the theory of political efficacy. 15,000 votes for Harambe has skewed the polling surveys and might have contributed to why political scientists got this all wrong.
There is another scenario where the Presidential election could have been stolen: if enough deadlock is placed in the House of Representatives and the Senate, through a series of twists worded in the Constitution, more specifically the 12th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act, which specifies the line of succession to the presidency. If the whole of Congress cannot elect the President or the Vice-President to post, then Paul Ryan could sweep in and steal the Presidency. The Medium Corporation has an interesting article that deals with this possibility.
Politics is a dirty game, and ABC's Scandal has popularized this. Not saying that the realities posed are true, it does make you wonder about the loopholes in our society on how the madness could actually come to fruition. Just remember that the election is not over until after all states have cast their ballots on December 19th. Wine drinking can start now, but in my mind, it is accepted worldwide to drink wine on December 19th. Imagine if Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech with the background knowledge that the aforementioned was a possibility! We truly never know what the other candidate is thinking, and the game is not even close to being done. Smiling faces sometimes don't tell the truth.
Venture forth, Citizens of Justice, in the madness that is Election Season.
