Serious question - what if the election results were influenced by hacking?

[cab67]

We don't yet know if Russian hackers actually changed the outcome of the election. We might not even be able to prove that they did, even if we can demonstrate that they successfully hacked into voting machines.

But serious question here - what if we CAN prove it? And what if their actions DID change the outcome of the election in favor of Lord Dampnut?

Is there a legal mechanism to void the election results? I suspect the answer is "no," but would like input from someone who knows the legal ins and outs more than me.

thanks.

Follow-up question added on edit: are there examples in US history of elections being overturned for fraud?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Nope. You break it; you buy it. NT

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. If we had definitive proof they flipped the votes, the deplorables would

assure you if you did the right thing and changed the situation that you would be no more.

[jmg257]

3. Also interesting would be what will we do to Russia...anything more appropriate than sanctions?

[dchill]

4. Then the rationale for Trump's Presidency...

becomes "the will of GOD" - by way of Vlad Putin.

[delisen]

5. That is when politics and plea bargain come into play

and also when we begin to look at some serious international consequences.

A lot depends upon how tough Democrats are and how united.

Justice has to become more important than pragmatism.

[trentwestcott]

14. How are we going to plea bargain with the mouthbreathing idiots who'd start rioting and shooting?

I'd like to see the rightful winner installed (for a full 4 years), but can you imagine what the Hannityites would do? They've been waiting for an excuse to "water the tree" of liberty.

[delisen]

15. Most of them are as gutless as the John Birchers of yesteryear

Hannity can start broadcasting from a dacha on the Black Sea and his listeners will crawl back into the prairie dog holes they have recently crawled out of.

What gave the Portland bully his license to act was the misguided attempts to normalize Trump. It has given him and others hope that fascism will rule and they will be able to run around the country killing people.

But the phase of normalization of Trump is over--too many people in power are now petrified that Trump's act is going to drastically weaken the US and destabilize the world.

He is being isolated. Layers don't want to work for him.

His businesses will not be able to raise the money he needs because the investors he desperately needs don't want to be in the spotlight of the investigations that are gearing up.

Mobsters, oligarchs, money-laundering bankers are going to want Trump shut down as soon as possible.

The rest of us are only limited by our lack of imagination in demanding justice.

[trentwestcott]

22. Hey now, Hannity is a tough guy

I've been listening to him now and then, and he's always talking about his martial arts training and all the guns he owns. I'm scared to death.

/sarcasm

[SoCalMusicLover]

6. I Don't Get The Feeling That's Being Looked Into

And with repubs controlling everything, I am not sure anything would be done. And the last time the Supremes got involved in an election, you saw how well it went.

[Jim__]

7. The government would probably suppress that information.

Informing the people that the announced election results are not necessarily accurate would undermine our democracy. I don’t believe the government would be very quick to share such information with the people.

[crazylikafox]

8. Agreed. Even if they already know, they'll always deny it.

It's just my theory, I have no proof.

But I was always suspicious of the way Obama & everyone else was so quick to insist that the actual vote counts were not affected. There's really no way they would know that for sure.

But they think that the Nation cannot handle the fact that the election results were changed, that votes were actually flipped. Because there's no constitutional remedy for it. It would just cause unrest or worse.

So they'll cover it up. Whether it happened or not.

[Auntie Bush]

9. I think you are right...unfortunately!

[Dream Girl]

13. Yep, you are right. They would never disclose this even if there was irrefutable proof.

The "American People" couldn't handle it. Kind of like the existence of aliens (and I'm only half kidding)

[YCHDT]

21. Yes, they're more into protecting image of perfection than doing something about it. After Florida

... 2000 we all know we're fucked up when it comes to national elections.

[karadax]

10. I think it would depend on who has more control at the time.

Republicans likely would use it as justification that national voter ID laws are absolutely essential in a time where people's votes can be anonymously flipped.

[politicaljunkie41910]

16. I think that allowing someone to benefit from gaining the presidency by confirmed cheating and doing

NOTHING about it would do more to undermine our democracy than correcting a wrong. No one ever said our democracy was perfect. In fact, I would say that our Democracy has been and still is a "work in progress" as it is founded on, by, and for the people who themselves are not perfect. We colonized a nation that was occupied by others at the time of our arrival, i.e. the Indians. We enslaved people and denied them equal protection and rights under the law before we later freed those we considered slaves. Women were at one time denied the right to own property in their own names, or to vote; and we subsequently changed that too, etc., etc. So we don't have to leave a "wrong" uncorrected, forever.

Also, we should change the law to make the consequences particularly onerous in the future if a candidate or his/her party is determined to have cheated during an election campaign in order to win the Office of the Presidency, by tampering with election equipment, as a deterrent from doing so. The punishment should include loss of office, mandatory jail sentence, and restitution for the costs of any investigation and physical and emotional harm done to the other candidate(s). If a wrong is allowed to go uncorrected, that makes it worth the effort and the risk of cheating. In other words, cheating pays if there are no consequences, and what you get is more cheating as people and new technology weighs the risk of the gain, with the risk of getting caught.

[YCHDT]

20. I agree seems to be DC and media consensus but after Florida 2000 who thinks we're perfect !?!?!

[Vinca]

11. There's really no mechanism in place to deal with it. The obvious remedy would be a new election,

but that won't happen. One by one they might get picked off and sent to the big house, but I'm afraid we're stuck with a Republican until 2020. It's really upsetting.

[Hoyt]

12. Don't think anything would change. Maybe we'll stop meddling in other countries elections in future.

It's not like we are pure on this.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/13/the-long-history-of-the-u-s-interfering-with-elections-elsewhere/?utm_term=.6368277448a1

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-us-intervention-foreign-elections-20161213-story.html


Now, if someone actually came up with evidence that Trump directly conspired with the Ruskies. . . . . .

[Thrill]

17. Not sure. But some of the experts on FL voting seemed

surprised about the results in some places during election night.

One was PBO's Florida guy

[aikoaiko]

18. Nothing would change even if there was clear and convincing evidence of enough fraud.

Votes have been certified and Trump was duly elected.

If evidence exists of Trumps involvement, he can be impeached, but then Pence takes over.

[bresue]

19. Why couldn't we have a special election?

Even though it has never been done...why couldn't it be done?

[cab67]

23. My guess...

...is that there's no constitutional mechanism for it.