Hillary Clinton has received more than two million more votes in the election than Donald Trump, a margin not seen for a losing candidate since 1876.
Mrs. Clinton's lead now exceeds the winning percentages of seven presidents, five of whom also won the Electoral College. And it has given rise to a push from liberal activists to demand audits in three states won narrowly by Mr. Trump: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
But mainly it is pointing toward a structural disadvantage Democrats have with the Electoral College: Their voters are too concentrated in the bright blue states of the West Coast and Northeast.
Hillary Clinton's national popular vote lead just surpassed 2 million (1.5%): https://t.co/j58GaxfPmH
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 23, 2016
A group of prominent computer scientists and election attorneys is lobbying the Clinton campaign to challenge the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania after finding “persuasive evidence” of manipulation and hacking, New York magazine reports:
The group is so far not speaking on the record about their findings and is focused on lobbying the Clinton team in private.
Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. While it's important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review — especially in light of the fact that the Obama White House has accused the Russian government of hacking the Democratic National Committee.
According to current tallies, Trump has won 290 Electoral College votes to Clinton's 232, with Michigan's 16 votes not apportioned because the race there is still too close to call. It would take overturning the results in both Wisconsin (10 Electoral College votes) and Pennsylvania (20 votes), in addition to winning Michigan's 16, for Clinton to win the Electoral College.
The deadline to file for a recount in Wisconsin is Friday, Pennsylvania on Monday, and Michigan a week from today.
A post on social media urging voters to call the Department of Justice to audit the results of the election is nonsense, the Washington Post reports:
The Justice Department doesn't count up calls to determine whether it should launch an investigation. And they will not initiate a national audit — or force particular states to recount their results — based on the volume of outrage they receive from voters.
“The Justice Department does not tally the number of callers to determine whether federal action is warranted,” department spokesman David Jacobs said in a statement. “Investigatory decisions are based solely on the facts and evidence as they relate to the federal statutes the department enforces.”
The post itself showed up on Reddit at least two days ago, though its exact origin is unclear.
