What happens if the midterms look hacked or rigged?

[realmirage]

Here's my big fear - that the Russians or whoever will find a clever way to make it look like Democrats made gains, but juuuuusst not quite enough to take back any real power. It would put us in a very strange situation where we think it may not have been rigged but there's a gnawing hunch that we should have done better and did, but someone messed with the numbers.

Or, they make it look clearly rigged.

Either one would increase tensions and possibly destabilize America.

Is this Putin's strategy to rearrange the global power structure? Destabilize the enemy by messing with their internal systems? Make the Americans distrust and hate each other? Civil War?

I really hope there's somebody overseeing all these election machines. Otherwise we could be looking at a situation where everything goes to shit real fast and we are all living in the fucking woods in survival mode.

[SimpleC]

1. What happens if the congress gets hit with a blue wave?

Trump will scream voter fraud!!!...

I believe this election will be historic and ugly at the same time

[lark]

2. You just stated my biggest fear, our election and government stolen from us.

Who knows what PUtin will do. He definitely favors racist, criminal drumpf, but only because of the destruction and total ignorance of the pretend leader. He definitely hates our country more than he loves drumpf, who is just a useful tool to him, at this moment, so anything is possible. I do know if repugs win, they will have stolen it and will have had to massively hack the actual vote itself to do this. I really think our only hope is to massively, unexpectedly turn out the blue vote. If they plan on stealing 6%, we have to win by 8% and surprise the country stealing oligarchs.

[BamaRefugee]

5. But if they can get a safe Dem seat to apparently elect a Republican here and there

then the world turns sideways, I think this is more likely than just quashing Dem votes in Republican districts, and the result would be so strange that it would cause chaos. All electoral results would be in question.

[Hoyt]

3. At this point, there will be no new safeguards. Just vote, donate, encourage others.

If it looks corrupt, we'll deal with it then.

[BamaRefugee]

4. I see Trump somehow declaring the elections null and void and all elected officials remain in office

until Trump can "Figure out what's happening".
There would probably be martial law too, to quell any resistance.
And no, I am not joking nor am I being extremist. He wants that Presidential alert system working FOR A REASON.

[Leith]

6. I've Wondered That Myself

It's a very real and frightening possibility. The thugs in power have done nothing to prevent it or even bothered to take a look.

[Chakaconcarne]

7. We've already seen it happen....

IMO...

[Maven]

8. Yes, I think that is exactly Putin's strategy

Promoting white nationalist domestic policy and isolationist foreign policy in the U.S. is certainly on his agenda. But the long-term goal is to destabilize our country by sowing division and distrust among different political factions and undermining our faith in our own government.

Once we see the government as illegitimate and our fellow citizens as the enemy, then we will be consumed by internecine warfare. Ultimately we will either turn into a full-fledged authoritarian state aligned with Putin and his fellow autocrats or break apart into pieces that are weaker than the whole.

And guess what? So far, it's working.