History From the Future

 

From A History of U.S. Elections, © 2057 by Amazon Putnam Doubleday, Inc. :

In 2016, there was massive interference by the Russian government in the Presidential elections. Though the public was only told that it was limited to influencing and bogus postings on social media, further investigation showed that malware had been planted in the voting machines of a number of states. Primary targets were Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, identified as “swing states” because their electoral votes would most likely determine the winner of the election. The purpose of the malware was, quite simply, to change votes. Every tenth vote recorded for Hillary Clinton was changed to a vote for Donald Trump, resulting in a Trump victory in each of the swing states. It was this change that resulted in all the polls and predictions of the outcome turning out so wrong.

Investigations after the election revealed the existence of the malware, but the discovery was kept at a top secret security level, the fear being that disclosure would shake the faith of the American public in the electoral process. President Trump, after being advised of the situation, chose to take no action against the Russians. He also took no steps and gave no orders to have the malware removed.

 

As the 2020 election approached, Trump began a campaign designed to destroy Americans’ faith in the security of the elections, the very situation that keeping the Russian interference a secret was intended to avoid. However, Trump claimed that it was the Democratic Party that would use tricks and fraudulent voting to steal the election from him.  

Trump’s major concern about his reelection was mail-in voting. While the Russian malware would continue to change votes in his favor, nothing could be done with paper ballots that had to be processed and counted by human beings. Over the course of the year leading up to the election, he made numerous statements about counterfeit ballots and ballots being sent on behalf of deceased people and illegal immigrants, as well as other baseless claims.

The situation grew more serious for Trump with the outbreak of Covid-19. With the country locked down by the pandemic, many states instituted or eased restrictions on the use of mail-in or absentee ballots. This was of particular concern in the so-called “swing states,” which again would most likely determine the winner of the Presidency. Trump installed a staunch supporter as Postmaster General, giving him the specific task of crippling the Postal Service so that ballots would not be delivered to the voters or returned in a timely manner.

The impact of the Russian malware was evident early on Election Day as tallies from the swing states showed Trump with substantial leads. Trump, thinking his reelection was assured, declared himself the victor. What he had failed to take into account were the millions of mail-in ballots that still had to be counted, votes that were overwhelmingly for his opponent, Joe Biden. As those ballots were tallied, it became evident that Biden was, in fact, the winner of the election. Trump, handcuffed because he could not focus attention on the voting machines and the Russian interference which had enabled his 2016 victory (and was intended to reassure his reelection), instead pursued baseless litigation to have all the mail-in ballots thrown out.

Despite his refusal to concede defeat, Trump’s tenure as President ended with the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. He went to his grave claiming that the election had been stolen from him. He never publicly acknowledged the Russian interference, though a postmortem investigation of his private papers revealed a number of questionable communications with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. (The exact contents of those communications remain sealed until 2080.)

 

Further investigation during the Biden Presidency discovered that the Russian malware’s use had been expanded in 2020 and utilized in a number of races for the United States Senate and House of Representatives. As with the Trump votes, votes cast for Democratic candidates in a number of states were changed to votes for their opponents, resulting in a number of illegitimate Republican victories. It was not until 2027 that this became public knowledge when two Senators who had benefited from the cheating acknowledged that their unwavering support for Trump had been in exchange for the “help” with their campaigns.

 

Following the 2020 election, the movement to eliminate the Electoral College from the process of electing the President grew more fervent. The battle, almost totally partisan, went on for more than a decade until an agreement was reached. In 2035, the 30th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified by 40 states, determined that Electoral College votes would be prorated in each state based on the popular vote. This effectively eliminated the concept of “swing states” and gave the Presidency to the person who won the popular vote.