Of all the possibilities, tonight’s election ending with a declared winner could be the most shocking outcome.
In what is easily the most interesting election cycle I’ve ever witnessed, both parties are now “lawyered up” and setting the stage for a lengthy fight after Tuesday’s results are revealed.
As late as yesterday, Hillary Clinton tweeted that the election results will not be final “until all the votes are counted”. Of course, this means waiting days, perhaps weeks, for late-arriving mail-in votes.
Democrats have stated they will never concede to Trump and, with the help of their media partners, have been programming the public to be ready for this scenario.
In countless TV segments they have reminded viewers that it may look like a Trump win on Tuesday, but it could easily be converted to a Democrat victory in the days after the election.
Mainstream media have said Trump cannot declare victory on Tuesday while Facebook and Twitter will censor election results and news outside of Mainstream Media.
On their side, Republicans have already stated that any late-arriving ballots will be fraudulent ballots, created illegally to close the gap and overtake whatever lead Trump may have tonight.
To their defense, it has been reported that some states will not require matching signatures to verify ballots. Without a matching signature, anyone can send in a ballot. And there are millions of extra ballots floating around. Stories of dogs, cats and dead relatives receiving ballots have circulated in the media for months.
Here are a couple of other interesting scenarios.
Trump Wins in a Landslide
The mainstream media will never admit it. But, if you look at the crowds Donald Trump brings in at his rallies, it is quite easy to envision this scenario.
Trump draws hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic spectators every day. And polls released from those rallies claim a large percentage of attendees voted Democrat in 2016.
This is likely the only scenario that delivers a decision tonight.
If Trump begins sweeping up swing states by a wide margin, the deficit could be too much to overcome. Delaying the result could prove even more disastrous for a Democratic Party that has seemingly forgotten about its core voter base in recent years.
The House of Representatives pick the President
It might seem unlikely, but Democrats are actually preparing for this scenario.
If Democrats can keep the vote close enough then muddy the results with mail-in ballots and claims of fraud, this is a real possibility.
If they can keep the results tied up in the course and no winner is decided by January 6, the House of Representatives would vote for the next president, with each state getting a vote.
In September, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi informed the Democratic caucus to be prepared for this scenario and focus on winning races in the election which would swing the house in the Democrats’ favor. The Republicans currently have a slight edge.
Last week, Pelosi set the stage for a house vote by stating that Biden “will be elected on January 20th”. She’s also made comments that Biden could be inaugurated outside of the White House and Washington, DC.
Secession of Western States
The Democrats have openly flaunted this option in what would be the start of a completely chaotic and likely violent scenario.
In August, it was revealed in a New York Times column that the Democrats were openly plotting potential moves for a closely contested election.
John Podesta, the former chair of Clinton’s 2016 campaign and a leading figure in the party, promoted the option in the event of a narrow Joe Biden defeat.
According to the column:
“In that scenario, California, Oregon, and Washington then threatened to secede from the United States if Mr. Trump took office as planned. The House named Mr. Biden president; the Senate and White House stuck with Mr. Trump. At that point in the scenario, the nation stopped looking to the media for cues, and waited to see what the military would do.”
