At 11:00 PM, the polls closed on the West Coast, allowing the networks to officially color in California, Oregon, and Washington for Governor Tomlinson, and Montana and Idaho for Trump. Fox News called Georgia, Michigan, and Minnesota for Trump, but unlike CNN and the other networks, they still were not calling Florida.
That made them the only network claiming that the election remained too close to call, and it was clear that both Galen Beaty and Kristina Brower felt increasingly uncomfortable with that decision. They brought Allison Wright, the Fox News reporter assigned to the Tomlinson campaign, on air every ten minutes or so to report on the elation that was now filling the ballroom at the Langham Hotel in Chicago, where more than 10,000 Tomlinson supporters had gathered to celebrate.
“When are they dropping the balloons, Allison?”
“If the celebrations get any louder, those balloons are going to drop on their own, Galen.”
Governor Tomlinson announced that she would not appear in public before her supporters until she heard from the president. There was a lot of clucking and nodding from the talking heads at her announcement, so wise and so humble from the challenger.
“We’ve been told by Fox News correspondent Mandy Baz at Mar-a-Lago that we should be expecting a statement any minute now from the Trump campaign. We don’t know if the president will weigh in on camera or via Twitter, or whether we’ll be getting a written statement. But stay tuned,” Beaty said.
“Our viewers need to take a good look at that electoral map,” Kristina Brower added. “With Michigan, Georgia, and Minnesota going for President Trump, the president now has 241 confirmed electoral votes. If the other networks are right, and Florida with its 29 votes goes to Governor Tomlinson, that puts her at 266, still four votes shy of 270. She still must win either Pennsylvania or Arizona. There’s no way around it, Galen. Those are her only remaining pathways to 270.”
“And as you say, Kristina, the Fox News election desk continues to consider all three of those states too close to call. If the president is declared the winner in Florida, he wins his second term with exactly 270 electoral votes. A squeaker, for sure. But victory all the same.”
“So, Galen. This election is still too close to call.”
As they waited for more definitive results, Fox News updated reports from earlier in the day of election incidents across the country.
In suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania, election officials had discovered an unusually high number of over-votes from what appeared to be Republican voters. As they examined the results from the tabulators that counted the paper ballots, nearly 10 percent of them were disqualified because voters had selected President Trump and the Libertarian candidate.
“And so how do we know these are Republican voters,” Beaty asked Mark Enderwood with Fox affiliate WTXF, reporting from Newtown.
“Simple, Galen. Election officials here tell me that their ballot marking systems have a feature that allows voters to vote a straight party ticket. So the ballot should have been marked automatically for President Trump. The only explanation they can come up with is that the machines made an error, or that a large number of ballots had been placed into the machines with the Libertarian candidate for president already selected.”
“That would be fraud, wouldn’t it,” Beaty said.
“Or an unbelievable mistake by precinct or county officials, Galen.”
“Remind our viewers how these particular machines work, Mark.”
“Well, as we’ve been reporting, Galen, Pennsylvania is one of several dozen states that replaced their old touch-screen voting machines with a new generation that produces paper ballots. Several different systems went into service for this year’s election. In Bucks, Delaware, and Philadelphia Counties, the new system still has a touch-screen interface with the voter, but instead of directly recording the voter’s selection electronically, it marks and prints out a paper ballot that the voter must feed into a scanner to be tabulated. So it would appear these voters never thought to verify their paper ballot, since they had voted a straight Republican ticket.”
Beaty exchanged a glance with his co-host. “Really?” he said. “Ten percent of Republican voters never thought to check their paper ballots to see if they were accurate?”
“That’s what we’re being told, Galen.”
Granger called Navid.
“Please tell me you are watching Fox News, not just our own networks.”
“Sure, boss.”
“So what’s this about over-votes in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Delaware Counties?”
“Again, boss. Not us. Those are the old touch screens. Okay, new touch screens, ballot marking systems, but still. We don’t touch ’em. Too obvious. Before 2016, that’s why Obama won Pennsylvania twice. Now state officials are wise to that game.”
“So who is doing this?”
“Dontcha love it?”
“No, I don’t love it, Navid. I want to see the results we discussed. I don’t want to see all this uncertainty.”
“Chaos, Granger. Chaos!”
“What do you mean?”
“Chaos is our friend. We didn’t do it. We aren’t responsible. Ain’t no trace back to us.”
“So how many votes are we talking about here?”
“The Republican over-votes in those three counties?”
“Yeah. Bucks, Delaware, and Philly.”
“Hold one,” Navid said. He swiveled down his long narrow desk and clicked on a separate keyboard commanding a dual monitor.
“Ballpark, boss: Ten percent of Republicans in Bucks: 15,000. Delaware and Philly: 10,000 each. So 35,000 altogether.”
“And so, out of six million votes cast, what does that make?”
Navid did a quick calculation.
“A little less than zero point six percent, boss. Just squeaking out of audit range.”
“Please tell me, my skanky Parsee friend, that you actually are banking a larger margin.”
“Hahahahaha, Granger. How many times I gotta tell you: I pull the switch, we get the results. Nowhere near the margin of error.”
“You got a real number?”
“Pennsylvania? 120,000 votes. That’s two percent.”
“So even if those 35,000 votes are counted against us, we still win.”
“You got that right, boss. Hahahahaha!”
42
Matt Hall and Aaron Duffy were the only two Fox News analysts who didn’t appear to be swept away by Tomlinson fever. Hall had done a deep dive into county-by-county returns in western Pennsylvania and compared them to the way the same counties had voted in 2016. Trump was actually winning fewer votes in the Pennsylvania rust belt than he had in 2016, nearly ten percent fewer, in fact. A similar trend was occurring in the purple counties close to Philadelphia, although the numbers were much smaller. Overall, Trump was down about 120,000 votes in Pennsylvania from where he had been in 2016.
“Kristina was right earlier to point at the electoral college map,” Hall said. “This thing is far from over, Galen. I think you’re going to have election officials working over-time into the wee hours of the morning double-checking their tabulators, because these results just don’t add up.”
He pointed to the high enthusiasm levels in neighboring West Virginia and Ohio, where Trump was pulling in higher margins than he had in 2016. And then, not only had he won Michigan and Wisconsin—again, with bigger margins than 2016—but he had picked up Minnesota by a margin of 21,000 votes.
“So you’ve got to ask yourself, Galen. If the president is doing so well in those other states, how can it be that he is under-performing in western Pennsylvania, which has many of the same kind of voters? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Hall saw a similar thing going on in densely populated urban areas, which tend to have a high proportion of African-American voters. In Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Det
roit, you had 392 precincts in 2016 that recorded 95 percent of votes cast for Hillary Clinton, and only 3 percent for Trump. More than half of the precincts in Detroit had more votes counted than people who actually turned out to vote. And still Trump won the state by 10,000 votes. Flash forward to tonight: Trump won 25 percent of the vote in those same inner city Detroit precincts. The same thing in Milwaukee.
“So if African-American voters are surging for Donald Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin, how come they aren’t showing up for him in Philadelphia? And yet, that’s what we’ve been seeing tonight,” Hall said.
“I’ve got to tell you, Galen. This is beginning to look an awful lot like the kind of election shenanigans we’ve been told to expect from the Russians or some other foreign player, seeking to create chaos across this country. And I haven’t gotten started on Florida, where Palm Beach County is using a whole new voting system for the first time this year, after the disastrous recount fiasco they had in 2018.”
Kristina Brower saw something on her monitor and put up her hand.
“Sorry to cut you off, Matt, but we’ve got some breaking news here,” she said.
The Fox News Alert logo flashed on the screen. Beaty turned to the camera and squared his jaw, putting on his game face.
“It is now midnight here on the East Coast, and polls have closed in Alaska and Hawaii and all across the country. The Associated Press election desk, which as our viewers know is coordinating the state-by-state results of this historic 2020 presidential election, has now called Pennsylvania for Governor Cheryl Tomlinson, and with that win, they have designated the governor the president-elect of the United States. While we at Fox News generally follow the calls the AP makes, this puts us in an unprecedented situation because our own election desk has not called Florida for Tomlinson. And without Florida, the Pennsylvania win puts her at just 257. She needs a clear win in Florida for her to become president-elect.”
Kristina Brower jumped in with a statement just issued by the Trump campaign, refusing to concede defeat. The president was concerned with widespread reports of election incidents across the country, almost all of them involving Republican voters. His campaign was in touch with election officials in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, and was being told that results in all three states were still too close for them to call a winner. All three states intended to begin mandatory recounts later this morning, the day after the election. The president was sending teams of campaign lawyers to assist their efforts and expected Governor Tomlinson to do the same. The president had already communicated his decision to the governor and asked her to join him in exercising restraint as they awaited results. “Americans engage in a long, grueling election campaign every four years,” the statement concluded. “We can afford to wait another day or even more if necessary to learn the true results.”
“Wow,” Beaty said, after he had read the statement to the Fox News audience. “I am speechless. Matt?”
“I can only say this, Galen. Half the people who voted today are going to bed believing the president was re-elected and the other half believing Governor Tomlinson is president-elect. Things could get very nasty out there.”
Granger had watched the president-elect’s face go from jubilation, when the AP called Pennsylvania and the election, to a knowing smirk when her aide announced the call from President Trump, to downright alarm after she picked up the phone and the president’s message sank in.
“Navid?” he shouted into the phone. “Will we survive a recount?”
His Asian whiz-kid just laughed at him.
“That’s actually a question, Navid.”
“Sure, boss,” he said, once he had recovered. “Ninety-nine percent.”
“What’s the one percent?”
“Hahahahaha.”
“I’m paid to know these things, Navid. You’re paid to tell me.”
“Okay. Ninety-nine point nine percent.”
“And?”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“What’s not going to happen?”
“An actual recount. They’re going to be auditing the digital image files. Like, man, we own the digital files.”
PART III
THE RECOUNT
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises…
He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten;
He covers his face and never sees.’
Psalm 10: 2; 11 (NIV)
43
Most Americans, even political junkies who stay up until the TV anchors have called it quits, believe that the mechanics of elections stops on election night. Unless they work in an election office, or as an election judge, they would never suspect the number of gears thrown in motion the very next morning, regardless of the results of the night before. Elections are supposed to present closure. They are supposed to be the final result, the end of the political campaign, when America votes and determines winners and losers and then gets on with her business. But in fact, it’s not until the day after the elections that official results are actually tabulated. And in many cases, it’s not for another two or three weeks—and sometimes longer—before those results are certified and declared immutable.
Few Americans outside of Floridians paid much attention to the 2018 recount fiasco when officials ultimately threw up their hands after ten days of riotous recounting and declared Republicans Kirk Norton and Rick Scott the next Governor and U.S. Senator. And while Democrat Party gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in Georgia wanted Americans across the country to pay attention to her claims that somehow Republicans had prevented African-Americans from voting—and thus, presumably, denied her victory—no one outside of a faithful inner circle or party wonks paid her much heed. The Georgia turnout numbers had been sky high, especially in black communities.
The morning after this year’s election was no different. Most Americans woke up believing that Governor Tomlinson had been elected president with 286 electoral votes and that any protests by Donald Trump of problems with the Election Day vote tallies were sour grapes. Adding to that impression were the unofficial results from Arizona, which put Governor Tomlinson ahead by a 2 percent margin. Meanwhile, election judges and precinct captains from across the country were congregating at canvassing centers, hand-delivering the sealed ballot boxes and the precious memory cards from the precinct vote tabulators so they could be re-tabulated by county officials on separate machines. While each county had slightly different procedures and equipment for carrying out the official morning-after vote count, almost all of them involved physically transporting the memory cards, because of the widespread belief—reinforced by warnings from the FBI and DHS—that data transmitted over the internet was easily subject to hacking. And while the national media duly reported on the president’s 10:30 AM tweet that he had just instructed the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate potential interference with the nation’s election systems, nobody took it seriously. Americans had gone back to work.
@POTUS: I applaud the efforts by FBI and DHS over the past 18 months to harden our election systems. Unclear results in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona require a full investigation into outside interference, which I have ordered FBI and DHS to begin.
Shortly before noon, Nelson Aguilar’s campaign team reassembled at his headquarters across from Wheaton Mall. The volunteers and the well-wishers were gone. Now it was down to just the three paid campaign workers: Annie Bryant, the Crocodile, and Camilla Broadstreet. No one had gotten much sleep and all of them had red eyes. Aguilar welcomed them into the conference room and led them in a brief prayer. “Lord God, we can aspire to no higher calling than to be instruments of your glory and recognize it’s not up to us to determine how we achieve that,” he prayed. “Lord, make your will known and we, your humble servants, will obey you.”
The final unofficial results from election night, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, were still up on the whiteboard. The numbers were devastating.
District 8:
Nelson Aguilar, Republican:
131,411
36.16%
Hugh McKenzie, Democrat:
220,506
60.67%
Jason Levin, Green:
11,543
3.18%
The Crocodile was urging Aguilar to call McKenzie to concede.
“It’s still not too late, boss. I think you should have done it last night.”
“I know. So you told me,” Aguilar said. “Annie, what do you think?”
Annie’s secret was now out in the open. They all knew she was dating Gordon and knew what Gordon did for a living. So, she was now their in-house expert on the election results—not on what they meant politically, that was the Crocodile’s job. But on their actual validity.
“The numbers are not right,” she said.
“Ya, I know we don’t like the results. But how much not right,” the Crocodile said.
“A lot not right,” she said. “Like perhaps, upside-down.”
“This is what Gordon told you last night?” Aguilar asked.
“Not in so many words. But yes,” she said.
Gordon hadn’t actually come home until 3:00 AM and hadn’t woken her when he crept into her bed. Only later, when they shared a coffee at around 7:00 AM, did she quiz him on the election night results.
“He was absolutely convinced they were not right. But exactly how, and why—”
“He didn’t know,” the Crocodile said, finishing her thought.
“He’s got some ideas he needs to work on today,” she said. “A working hypothesis.”
“Involving…?”
The Election Heist Page 15
