Many Americans questioning legitimacy of US election

The 2016 US election results have triggered serious disputes about the fairness of the country’s electoral process. The Republican nominee emerged as the winner of the race, despite the fact that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton gained about 2 million more popular votes. In his latest remarks, President-elect Donald Trump has alleged that there were serious voter fraud issues in Virginia, New Hampshire and California, claiming that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of votes cast illegally.

John Steppling, author and commentator, believes that American voters are getting pessimistic about the election system in the United States, where the popular vote does not directly determine the president and is not prioritized over the electoral vote.

“There are real questions in the public’s mind about the legitimacy of the process,” Steppling told Press TV.

He warned that the whole process is losing credibility.  “One wonders how many people will turn out for the next election.”

According to the commentator, “50 percent of the people in the United States did not vote. So, one would have to ask why is that? Why this extraordinary apathy or indifference or hostility to the electoral process?”

People have questions about the legitimacy of US voting procedures, because there have been reports of illegal activities even during the primaries, he mentioned.

The analyst also made mention of the American people’s other concerns about the voting system. “People have become incredibly cynical about the way that money controls the electoral process.”

Steppling further said neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidate was on the wish list of American voters.

“Nobody really wanted Clinton or Trump. They didn’t represent the values of anybody in the United States,” he added.

“The problem is that the wishes of the [people] are not being represented by these millionaire candidates. The system is absolutely corrupt and people are beginning to finally wake up to that fact.”

Pointing to the US president-elect’s allegations that millions of people voted illegally in the November 8 presidential election, the analyst noted, “Trump just says things and he doesn’t really think much about what he says.”

Ruling out the possibility that a vote recount may change the results of the election, he said, “Nothing will probably come of this recount because the winner has already been determined.”

A new CNN/ORC poll has indicated that 85 percent of Americans are of the opinion that the US has become more divided on major issues following the 2016 presidential election. Americans say the United States must modify the constitution to pave the way for electing presidents by popular vote rather than through the Electoral College.