Election Results In These 3 States May Be Disputed

With the seemingly impossible election of Donald Trump to the presidency, some movers and shakers are looking for a way out of the incoming administration. On Nov. 22, New York Magazine reported that a group of computer scientists and election lawyers are lobbying Hillary Clinton to take another look at the voting results in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. With this as one final form of potential recourse to avoid a Trump presidency, some people who are #StillWithHer are wondering if Clinton will request a recount in the three swing states. Experts behind the request were inspired by allegedly convincing evidence suggesting the vote-count in those states had been altered in some way.

The proposal is attractive to everyone devastated by Trump's win — what if, through some investigation, Clinton was actually elected? My answer is conditional: yes, she should call for a recount, but only if the evidence proposed by the group lobbying her campaign is enough to suggest credible evidence of election tampering. Given the extreme reaction Trump supporters have had to their candidate winning, the potential for violent backlash to the mere prospect of a Clinton challenge is very real. That said, I have no doubt that Clinton will only pursue recounts if she is convinced that it's in the interest of the country.

As the aforementioned group, which includes the director of the University of Michigan's computer security center and a prominent voting rights lawyer, lobbies Clinton and her team to pursue a recount, others are taking to social media to urge both Clinton and the Department of Justice to investigate potential voter fraud. Heba Abedin, the sister of controversial Clinton aide Huma Abedin, urged her Facebook followers to call the DOJ and request that they audit the votes in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. She also reminded them that a shift of a mere 55,000 votes is all it would take for Clinton to win the electoral college votes of those states.

This is the second potential "plan B" Clinton supporters have looked into to secure the presidency in her name following a lobbying effort to persuade "faithless electors" to vote against their state's majority and for Clinton instead. However, faithless electors have never changed the outcome of an election in the past, and it's unlikely they will now.

It remains to be seen whether Clinton will choose that long and potentially unproductive path. If nothing else, the massive calls for recounts prove just how contentious Trump's election is, and how disputed it may continue to be.