I am forced to accept the election results. But are US elections always fair? Absolutely not. Nixon beat Kennedy in 1960, Gore got shafted in the Bush election. Every close election in US history has some cloud over it.
I once followed a local county race. There was a lawsuit from the loser and the court actually took the time to go over each of the 2000 or so votes. Several of the voters actually had to testify in court as to who they voted for. They found one absentee voter had lived in Canada for the last decade, they found a few other wrong votes but not enough to overturn the election. The one candidate won by about three votes.
I share that because we should be realistic knowing that there is at least a half percent of the total vote that is incorrect. In a Presidential election it could even be higher.
Yes, there is some illegal voting too. I knew an elderly person who was declared incompetent from the court. She still wanted to vote. No one objected, the vote gatherers do not check for that in any place I have heard of. Others vote with illegal registrations, use wrong addresses, maybe vote in the wrong state or district.
Color the heads on five coins red and color the tails on 4 coins blue. Then flip the coins. What are the odds the exact 5 heads are red and the exact 4 blue coins are all tails. Well that's the same odds the Supreme Court had in their Gore versus bush decision. Five GOP voting for Bush, 4 Dems voting for Gore.
Lastly, there are people who in the Gore versus Bush case, who intended to vote for Gore but the split ballot had them end up voting for the Socialist. We know this because the socialist get far more votes in this county because the ballot itself was confusing. Researchers later did a similar test and yes, again the wrong boxes were checked because people were confused.
There are invalid votes too, defined as intended votes that have errors and are not counted. (Likely 3% is possible).
"Acceptable" number/proportion of invalid votes? — I suppose that is still fair, but you have to wonder is your vote in that 3%?
So here we have a close election and only God will know the true result based on the intention and legality of every voter. You have to accept that. Like a football game decided by a pass interference or holding call, we have to accept the outcome. The laws are so complex that each party needs hundreds of lawyers and judges that help decide. So in a sense we just have to trust God. God too has a longer term horizon that spans more than one voting cycle. It is based on reaping what you sow. Those who sow voting irregularities will one day be judged. Take solace in that, trust God not matter what. The system is not perfect, but God's justice is pure.
