On November 8, Dick Morris, writing at Newsmax, noted that President Donald Trump could still win the presidency.
Here are the specific scenarios.
Only the Electoral College or state legislatures can declare a candidate the winner. Making that decision based on vote totals and projections that the media says are irresponsible and calling Biden president-elect is irresponsible.
Recounts in Arizona, Georgia and other states are likely to go heavily in favor of Trump.
Most of the potential errors or invalid votes occurred on mail-in ballots. (Direct votes on machines are much harder to tamper with.) Since Biden won upwards of two-thirds of the mail-in and absentee ballots, most of the mail-in ballots that were ruled invalid will likely be subtracted from Biden’s total.
Currently, the media gives Trump 214 electoral votes (270 is the victory level).
Alaska, where Trump has led 2-1 all week, will now be more than halfway through the count and will likely slice its 3 votes to Trump, giving him 217 votes.
Trump likewise led all week in North Carolina (15 electoral votes), and his 75,000-vote advantage has not diminished. He will undoubtedly take North Carolina.
As with Alaska, the media did not assign North Carolina to Trump to maintain the illusion of a Biden victory. North Carolina would bring Trump’s vote count to 232.
The count in Arizona shows Trump’s deficit narrowed from 30,000 on Friday to 18,500 on Saturday, leaving about 100,000 votes to be counted.
In Arizona (11 electoral votes), a recount will take place after the complete count is complete, and for the same reason, the recount will favor Trump. If he wins Arizona, he will have 243 votes.
In Georgia (16 electoral votes), Biden leads by only 8,400 votes, a gap that has been closing.
As in Arizona, Trump still has a chance to win, and if he doesn’t, a good chance to win in the recount. Add Georgia and Kawakami would have 259 votes.
Wisconsin (10 electoral votes) was counted with Biden winning by an additional 21,000 votes, but a recount is imminent. Given the facts listed earlier, there is a good chance that Trump will win in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s recount process is uniquely fair and transparent and a model for the nation, so it’s likely that Trump will flip in the state.
If he does, he’ll have 269 votes – one shy of victory.
Then, that leaves Pennsylvania and its 20 votes. The Supreme Court temporarily allowed ballots that arrived by Friday, Nov. 6, and were postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3, to be counted, and ordered late ballots segregated. When Justice Alito learned that the state had failed to quarantine the late ballots as required by the Court’s ruling, Alito reiterated the need to enforce the Court’s order.
Joe Biden currently leads by 37,000 votes in Pennsylvania. The number of late ballots could far exceed that total (the state has not released this information).
Justice Alito and the Court majority will likely exclude these late votes, and it is likely that Trump will win Pennsylvania.
Moreover, for the reasons stated above, a recount is likely to give Trump a decisive advantage. If he wins Pennsylvania, he will receive 289 votes for victory.
Will there be a recount in Pennsylvania? Current law requires a recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percent, and in Pennsylvania, the margin is likely to be slightly larger.
There are two ways a recount could be triggered.
-First, the U.S. Supreme Court might order a recount because the teller so blatantly violated Alito’s order to segregate the ballots that he had to reissue them. And remember, four justices wanted to reconsider whether to allow delayed voting at all, but the high court was deadlocked 4-4. Now with Justice Barrett on board, there may be a different view.
-Secondly, Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states.
“Each state shall appoint, in such manner as its legislature shall direct, electors equal to the total number of senators and representatives to which the state is entitled in Congress.”
Pennsylvania’s legislature (both houses), which are solidly in Republican hands, has the option of requesting a recount before appointing electors. To build a case for doing so, it could hold hearings on fraud allegations to help the state’s voters understand how their ballots were blatantly fraudulent.
Already, Pennsylvania’s Senate leaders and the Speaker of the State Assembly have held a press conference to announce an “audit” of the vote counting process.
So, as the great Yogi Berra would say, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”
And she still hasn’t sung.
The author, Dick Morris, is a former presidential adviser and political strategist. He is a regular contributor to Newsmax TV.
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