Petition To Reverse Election Results Nears 5 Million, But There’s A Problem [Opinion]


The election results from Nov. 8 still have a number of Americans feeling downtrodden, and now there is hard data to prove it.

By now many of you likely know about the petition efforts to overturn the election results. While there are several out there, the best known is about to crest 5 million signatures.

Started by Daniel Brezenoff of California, the petition — started through Change.org — is currently at 4.766 million supporters with its next major milestone slated at 6 million.

The exact request of the petition is that “conscientious electors” will opt for the winner of the popular vote, Hillary Clinton, instead of the President-elect, who won close to 40 of the 50 states by such narrow margins that they were unable to compensate for the outpouring of raw votes in Clinton’s favor through states like New York and California.

The effort to change the election results is likely to fail, and Brezenoff is aware of this, but there was such shock when Donald Trump defied the polls and beat Clinton with 306 electoral votes in the early morning hours of Nov. 9.

Clinton would concede the next morning and said the American people should “accept the results of this election, and give him [Trump] a chance to lead.” She has since joined recount efforts in a few of the key states alongside Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Thus far, reports are seeing no real change in the results.

If the result does hold, Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2017. He has already begun building his Cabinet, which is a mix of longtime Washington insiders and conservatives unafraid to court controversy.

While he has professed a desire to unite as a country, there has been ample criticism for picks like Sen. Jeff Sessions and his flirtation with a post for outspoken “lock-her-up” supporter Rudy Giuliani.

Still, the petition to change the election results has some hoping for a miracle.

One elector in Texas has opted to step down, stating they “could not vote for someone as unqualified” as Donald Trump.

For Clinton supporters to have their way, more would have to follow suit before Dec. 13 when the electors make their final decisions.

What makes it improbable the outcome will change is the fact that most states bind their electors to vote for the candidate, who won majority votes from within the state.

Much has been made of Trump’s 2.5 million-vote deficit in the popular vote, but not as much has been made of the fact he still crested 60 million, and that Clinton supporters are leaning more toward the best course of action being not to undermine the U.S.’s election system but to work on dulling the impacts of Trump’s choices as president and play for midterm congressional seats and the 2020 presidential election.

Vice President Joe Biden has not ruled out running, and he remains a popular candidate with Democrats and Independents.

Ousting Trump would be unprecedented for the U.S. at this juncture, especially since the win was, by all accounts, the only noncontroversial aspect of the campaign.

The election may have been brutal, but the rules of the game were understood and the results were accurate.

Overturning that would alienate a minimum of 47 percent of the country — possibly a lot more than that when factoring in Clinton’s more level-headed supporters, who see it as the wrong move for the country.

It is understandable to be upset with election results.

After all, it is the final outcome between two conflicting philosophies. But overturning those election results could be the end of the country as a whole.

While some argue four years of Trump could get the U.S. there anyway, four years of “maybe” is a better bet than tearing up the results of a legitimate election.

But what do you think, readers?

Are the petitioners who want to change the election results patriots or sore losers undermining the integrity of the country? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons/Resized and Cropped/CC BY-SA 2.0]

Share this article: Petition To Reverse Election Results Nears 5 Million, But There’s A Problem [Opinion]
More from Inquisitr