Did thousands of Americans vote for a dead gorilla?
As the dust settles on the news that Donald Trump has beaten Hillary Clinton to win the US presidency, We take a look at some of the more quirky social media trends that emerged with the election results.
The Harambe mandate
Many social media users reacted with disbelief to tweets that were flying around suggesting that more than 10,000 people had voted – not for Trump or Clinton – but for a dead gorilla. What?
Yes,Harambethe 17-year-old Western lowland silverback gorilla who was shot and killed earlier this year after a child fell into his enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo, is said to have received thousands of ‘Write-in- Votes’, an American electoral anomaly whereby you can actually vote for someone not on the ballot paper.
What is Write-in-Vote ?
A Write-in-Vote is Voting a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may votenonetheless by writing in the person’s name. The system is almost totally confined to elections in the United States.
Generally, write-in candidates can compete in any election within the United States. Typically, write-in candidates have a very small chance of winning, but there have been some strong showings by write-in candidates over the years.
Write-in candidacies may also be permitted where term limits bar an incumbent candidate from being officially nominated for, or being listed on the ballot for, Re-election
A write-in candidate can file paperwork days, weeks, or even months ahead of the election in order to have their votes tallied. If the candidates don’t file, their votes will be dumped into the “other” category, alongside votes for “Santa Claus” and “me.” (Apparently, people like to vote for themselves.)
In terms of Write-in’s the 2016 presidential election could go down as “the year of the write-in vote”. The names submitted include the serious, bizarre, and silly.
This time in Knox County a total of 3,837 voters wrote in a name for president, more than seven times the amount submitted in the 2012 presidential election when 528 voters wrote-in a candidate.
Alice Cooper, Evan McMullin, burnt toast and Pope Francis also received write-in votes for president from Knox County voters.
Popular American Footballer Aaron Rodgers also received some write-in votes, at least according to his Twitter feed. Like most things, he took it all in stride, and even offered up a heartfelt concession speech of sorts.
“I just want to thank all the voters out there who did vote for me,” Rodgers said, viaJSOline.com. “I know for some people it was between me and Harambe. I think I finished second in that vote.”
But depending on location, those so-called “protest votes” might not even register.
According to the National Association of Secretaries of State, write-ins are actually prohibited in nine states: Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota. (Mississippi makes an exception if a candidate on the ballot dies or withdraws. And though the Nevada ballot doesn’t include a fill-in-the-blank option, it does allow citizens to vote for “none of these candidates” – an option nearly 6,000 voters exercised during the Obama-Romney matchup in 2012, according toFECdata.)
Whether or not the votes could really have impacted on the results of the election, plenty of people are confused till the end, by the high drama effects created in this election by American media.
Against all odds, polls, and projections, Donald Trump claimed victory in the presidential election Tuesday, delivering a speech at the Hilton Hotel in New York City on Tuesday to a cheering crowd of supporters.
For 18 months, pundits have pontificated about whether Trump would ever be able to be “presidential”, whether he would behave himself long enough to have a stab at winning the world’s most powerful job. And when the moment came, and he presented himself as US president-elect, he did it in classic style: he didn’t appear presidential. Rather, he rewrote the rule book on what it is to be so.
Not many historic victory speeches made over the ages have begun with: “Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business …”
Not many presidents-elect have gone on to say of their vanquished rival that “we owe major debt of gratitude for her service to our country”
Not many soon-to-be-occupants of the Oval Office have promised to “double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world”.
We have published here a ‘as it is’ transcript of his speech in full:
Thank you. Thank you very much, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business, complicated.. Thank you very much.
I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us. It’s about us. On our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.
I mean, she fought very hard. Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
I mean that very sincerely. Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country. As I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.
It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will.
Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. I’ve spent my entire life in business, looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world.
That is now what I want to do for our country. Tremendous potential. I’ve gotten to know our country so well. Tremendous potential. It is going to be a beautiful thing. Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none, and we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it. We will also finally take care of our great veterans who have been so loyal, and I’ve gotten to know so many over this 18-month journey.
The time I’ve spent with them during this campaign has been among my greatest honors.
Our veterans are incredible people. We will embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. I will harness the creative talents of our people, and we will call upon the best and brightest to leverage their tremendous talent for the benefit of all. It is going to happen.
We have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. We will be.
We will have great relationships. We expect to have great, great relationships. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.
America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our country’s destiny and dream big and bold and daring. We have to do that. We’re going to dream of things for our country, and beautiful things and successful things once again.
I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone.
All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict. And now I would like to take this moment to thank some of the people who really helped me with this, what they are calling tonight a very, very historic victory.
First, I want to thank my parents, who I know are looking down on me right now. Great people. I’ve learned so much from them. They were wonderful in every regard. Truly great parents. I also want to thank my sisters,
Marianne and Elizabeth, who are here with us tonight. Where are they?
They’re here someplace. They’re very shy, actually.
And my brother Robert, my great friend. Where is Robert? Where is Robert?
My brother Robert, and they should be on this stage, but that’s okay. They’re great.
And also my late brother Fred, great guy. Fantastic guy. Fantastic family. I was very lucky.
Great brothers, sisters, great, unbelievable parents. To Melania and Don and Ivanka and Eric and Tiffany and Barron, I love you and I thank you, and especially for putting up with all of those hours. This was tough.
This was tough. This political stuff is nasty, and it is tough. So I want to thank my family very much. Really fantastic. Thank you all. Thank you all. Lara, unbelievable job. Unbelievable. Vanessa, thank you. Thank you very much. What a great group.
You’ve all given me such incredible support, and I will tell you that we have a large group of people. You know, they kept saying we have a small staff. Not so small. Look at all of the people that we have. Look at all of these people.
And Kellyanne and Chris and Rudy and Steve and David. We have got tremendously talented people up here, and I want to tell you it’s been very, very special.
I want to give a very special thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. He’s unbelievable. Unbelievable. He traveled with us and he went through meetings, and Rudy never changes. Where is Rudy. Where is he?
[Chanting “Rudy”]
Gov. Chris Christie, folks, was unbelievable. Thank you, Chris. The first man, first senator, first major, major politician — let me tell you, he is highly respected in Washington because he is as smart as you get. Sen. Jeff Sessions. Where is Jeff? A great man. Another great man, very tough competitor. He was not easy. He was not easy. Who is that? Is that the mayor that showed up? Is that Rudy?
Up here. Really a friend to me, but I’ll tell you, I got to know him as a competitor because he was one of the folks that was negotiating to go against those Democrats, Dr. Ben Carson. Where’s been? Where is Ben?
By the way, Mike Huckabee is here someplace, and he is fantastic. Mike and his familiar bring Sarah, thank you very much. Gen. Mike Flynn. Where is Mike? And Gen. Kellogg. We have over 200 generals and admirals that have endorsed our campaign and there are special people.
We have 22 Congressional Medal of Honor people. A very special person who, believe me, I read reports that I wasn’t getting along with him. I never had a bad second with him. He’s an unbelievable star. He is — that’s right, how did you possibly guess? Let me tell you about Reince. I’ve said Reince. I know it. I know it. Look at all of those people over there. I know it,
Reince is a superstar. I said, they can’t call you a superstar, Reince, unless we win it. Like Secretariat. He would not have that bust at the track at Belmont.
Reince is really a star and he is the hardest-working guy, and in a certain way I did this. Reince, come up here. Get over here, Reince.
Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. It’s about time you did this right. My god. Nah, come here. Say something.
[Reince Priebus: Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the united States, Donald Trump! Thank you. It’s been an honor. God bless. Thank God.]
Amazing guy. Our partnership with the RNC was so important to the success and what we’ve done, so I also have to say, I’ve gotten to know some incredible people.
The Secret Service people. They’re tough and they’re smart and they’re sharp and I don’t want to mess around with them, I can tell ya. And when I want to go and wave to a big group of people and they rip me down and put me back down in the seat, but they are fantastic people so I want to thank the Secret Service.
And law enforcement in New York City, they’re here tonight. These are spectacular people, sometimes under appreciated unfortunately. We appreciate them. So it’s been what they call an historic event, but to be really historic, we have to do a great job, and I promise you that I will not let you down. We will do a great job. We will do a great job. I look very much forward to being your president, and hopefully at the end of two years or three years or four years or maybe even eight years you will say so many of you worked so hard for us, with you. You will say that — you will say that that was something that you were — really were very proud to do and I can — thank you very much.
And I can only say that while the campaign is over, our work on this movement is now really just beginning. We’re going to get to work immediately for the American people, and we’re going to be doing a job that hopefully you will be so proud of your president. You will be so proud.
Again, it’s my honor.
It’s an amazing evening. It’s been an amazing two-year period, and I love this country. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you to Mike Pence.
It was a modest speech for a person who’s going to take command of Oval Office.
Clearly it is a Slap right on the face of Arrogant Main Stream Media, The so called Honorable Pollsters and Pundits were so wrong that everything they said all year should have been Scrapped and disregarded. I am sorry I didn’t have the means to do so.
Take example, Las Vegas lawyerRobert Barnes, who has, since the primaries, consistently predicted a Trump victory and who has now made hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and the clients he advised to place bets on Trump with European bookmakers. Thesigns he and other gamblers saw — all of them regarded rather Unscientific — turned out to be more valid than the Arrogant opinions and Authoritative-looking calculations of Pollsters, Academics, Political operatives and Veteran commentators and other mercenaries of Main stream Media .
Trump demolished all preconceived notions about American politics – and dashed Hillary Clinton’s hopes of the highest office forever
They should have listened to Barnes, and to dozens of ordinary Americans who explained why they preferred Trump to Clinton. Most were unhappy about their economic situation, particularly rising Obamacare premiums and the precariousness of their incomes, and every one of them considered Clinton corrupt. As one Trump supporter in Orlando put it Tuesday night, “I’d rather have the mafia run the U.S. government than Hillary Clinton: They are less crooked.”
That should have told them something important — or, rather, confirmed something they came to knew from the Counting Booths and Electoral College.
Trump won because, by the end of his campaign, he wasn’t just a nationalist populist, He was also an anti-corruption crusader.
“The American people don’t like corruption.”The American People don’t like Crooked Hillary, The American People don’t like Crooked Media.
Despite of all odds Trump managed to strike a chord with the American people as an unorthodox candidate without a political background.
Just before the final hours of Polling FBI swung into action and cleared the path of White House for Hillary Clinton
FBI Director James Comey
Hillary Clinton received an unexpected boost to her campaign with just hours left before the US presidential election as the FBI announced on Sunday night that it had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in her use of a private email server.
James Comey, the FBI director, took the nation by surprise when he released a second letter in which he said the FBI had not changed its conclusions from its first report on Mrs Clinton in July.
The announcement, made as Americans prepared to go to the polls on Tuesday, lifted a shadow left hanging over the Democrat candidate. It followed a surge of support from Hispanic voters in the latest polls.
The announcement will raise further questions about the role of the FBI in the campaign, its impact on the democratic process and the timing of its statements.
The agency had already been plunged into controversy when the inquiry into the latest tranche of emails was announced during the course of the campaign.
Mr Comey said in his new letter: “Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation.
“During that process we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state. Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton. I am very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high-quality work in a short period of time.”
Mr Comey had announced nine days ago that new emails were being investigated. They had been found on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide. He is under a separate investigation for allegedly sexting an underage girl.
The Clinton campaign immediately responded, welcoming the move.
“We are glad to see that he has found, as we were confident that he would, that he’s confirmed the conclusions that he reached in July,” said Jennifer Palmieri, the campaign’s communications manager. “And we’re glad that this matter is resolved.”
Last night’s announcement is expected to help Hillary further.
Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, said Mr Comey had “mishandled the investigation from the beginning” and questioned the idea that the FBI could have carried out a thorough investigation in such a short time, but told MSNBC that the announcement would have no effect on the race.
Speaking to a rally in Minnesota, Mr Trump said: “She’s the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the US. Clinton will be under investigation for a long time for the many crimes against her [name]. It’s a rigged system and she’s protected.”
The FBI was already under huge pressure from Democrats to explain why it took the unprecedented decision to make public so close to an election that it was investigating a new batch of emails related to Mrs Clinton.
Theresa May said on Sunday night that elections should be “calm and measured” and focused on issues as she spoke about the tone of the US presidential election.
Asked if she would repeat criticism of Mr Trump, voiced when she was home secretary, Mrs May said: “I take a simple view about the way in which I like to see campaigns being conducted; I like them to be conducted in a calm and measured way with proper consideration of the issues.”
Trump: ‘Hillary Clinton is guilty. She knows it, The FBI knows it. The people know it.’
In Moon township, west Pennsylvania, Trump lashed out at Hillary Clinton – calling her “the most corrupt person ever to run for president of the United States.” On the email investigation, he said: “Hillary Clinton is guilty. The FBI knows it. She knows it. The people know it… We are to deliver justice at the ballot box.” He accused the media of double standards and said the political system was “rigged.” Trump joked that if he’d been caught being fed debate questions in advance, as he says Clinton was, “they’d reinstitute the electric chair.”
Speaking to an audience of several thousand in an industrial area, he also promised to bring back steel and coal jobs. He said that refugee programmes will be suspended, which received a loud cheer”, and that Clinton created Isis by creating “a vacuum” of power in the Middle East. “We are fighting for every forgotten man, woman and child in this nation… Dream big. We are just two days away from the change you’ve been waiting for your entire life.”
Trump campaign manager: ‘Maybe the foundation is still under investigation’
Kellyanne Conway was asked repeatedly whether it was irresponsible for Donald Trump to speculate that the FBI had found the “motherload” on Hillary Clinton and that she would face indictment.
“Everybody speculated for nine days,” she said.
If FBI conclusions remain unchanged, that means she still was reckless & careless, still lied about classified info.
The Trump response
Donald Trump is speaking in Michigan, and lashing out against the “rigged system” that he claims allowed Hillary Clinton to avoid charges over her emails
Trump says FBI didn’t really review emails: “you cant review 650,000 emails in eight days. You cant do it folks. Hillary Clinton is guilty.”
Democrats asking questions
More from Ruth Sherlock, on the reaction from the other side of the aisle:
Democrats in congress warned last night that there would be “many questions” into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, as pressure mounted on its director to explain his actions.
Whilst Mr Comey’s announcement brought profound relief to Mrs Clinton’s campaign, it did little to stem the outrage of Democratic politicians who said Mr Comey’s initial intervention was illegitimately influencing the election, and accused the FBI of meddling in partisan politics.
“It’s impossible to fully undo the damage of the last nine days,” a senior Democrat said, speaking on condition of anonymity, in the hours after Mr Comey cleared Mrs Clinton’s name.
Tim Kaine, Mrs Clinton’s vice presidential running mate over the weekend attacked the FBI as being a “leaky sieve” that was “actively working” to hand Donald Trump the presidency.
“This just absolutely staggering,” he said, calling it a “massive blow” to the “integrity” of the agency.
But other Democrats had a harder time hiding their annoyance.
“Congrats to the FBI for working so hard to clear up the suspicion it needlessly created,” former Justice Department spokesman and Clinton supporter Matthew Millerwrote on Twitter. “Next time, maybe just stick to the rules though?”
Republican fury at Comey
Republicans in congress reacted with fury to the FBI director’s announcement clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing two days before the election.
James Comey caused a second shock to the presidential race on Sunday, stating the agency had not changed its conclusions on Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email whilst she was secretary of state.
“None of this changes the fact that the FBI continues to investigate the Clinton Foundation for corruption involving her tenure as secretary of state,” said Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“Hillary Clinton should never be president.”
Paul Ryan, the Republican house speaker said that, despite Mr Comey’s findings, Mrs Clinton’s handling of classified information on a private email server when she was secretary of state has “put our nations secrets at risk”.
And Newt Gingrich, a top Republican ally of Donald Trump last night accused him of caving to political pressure and questioned how he could come to the conclusion so quickly.
How we got here
The winding road that led us to Mr Comey’s announcement today
Congress probes Hillary Clinton over her role in the Benghazi attack that killed a US ambassador
During that investigation, it is determined that Mrs Clinton used a private email server to conduct government business
The FBI launches an investigation into whether Mrs Clinton knowingly put America’s secrets at risk through her email practices
James Comey announces in July that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue criminal charges against Mrs Clinton
Mr Comey sends a letter to members of Congress on October 28 stating that new “pertinent” emails had been found, and that Mrs Clinton is once again under investigation
It emerges that the emails were taken from the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman and estranged husband to Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide
Donald Trump calls the news “bigger than Watergate”, Democrats accuse Mr Comey of inappropriately influencing the election
Mr Comey announces that nothing was found in the new emails that changed his decision from July
Trump: ‘Clinton corrupt, no matter what FBI says’
Donald Trump has described Hillary Clinton as the “most corrupt person ever to seek the Presidency” less than half an hour after the FBI cleared her.
The Republican candidate refused to change tack despite the announcement by the head of the FBI, saying that “it’s a rigged system and she’s protected”.
Mr Trump had put the FBI’s investigation at the heart of his campaign and enjoyed a surge in the polls after it was formally re-opened last month.
The rally in Minneapolis was part of a dash through six states in the final 48 hours of the election campaign, Mr Trump was defiant.
Speaking to 4,500 people in an airport hanger, he said: “She’s the most corrupt person ever to seek the Presidency of the US. Clinton will be under investigation for a long time for the many crimes against her. It’s a rigged system and she’s protected.”
Trump and Clinton spokespeople argue it out on Twitter
Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, responds to Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon on Twitter.
She says if the Clinton camp was so confident of the outcome why did they attack Mr Comey over the last week.
Still, the Trump camp is going to have to accept they’ve lost this one. Mrs Clinton is definitely not going to be locked up.
Paul Ryan says Hillary Clinton still “put the nation’s secrets at risk”
Paul Ryan, the Republican House Speaker, said: “Regardless of this decision the undisputed finding of the FBI’s investigation is that Secretary Clinton put our nation’s secrets at risk and in doing so compromised our national security. She simply believes she’s above the law and always plays by her own rules.
“Fortunately, the American people have the opportunity to ensure Secretary Clinton never gets her hands on classified information again. Let’s bring the Clinton era to an end by voting for Donald Trump on Tuesday.”
What Pollsters say
Though Clinton’s lead in the polls had been shrinking prior to then, her aides and several pollsters said that the news won’t help the dampened enthusiasm among Democratic voters and further hurt her standing.
What about early voters?
Once again, a late development in this election leaves early voters scratching their heads.
The effect of Sunday’s news on the election is hard to predict. Millions of people have already cast ballots during the days in which all that was known was that the FBI was re-investigating Clinton’s emails.
Additionally, GOP presidential nomineeDonald Trumpand his surrogates have spent the past week arguing that an indictment against Clinton was in the offing. They even put out television advertisement highlighting the role played by Anthony Weiner in the saga.
The Clinton campaign was relatively muted in its initial response to the news.
More than 40 million people have already voted.
Those who did so over the last week did so with the knowledge that the FBI was investigating a new batch of potentially explosive Clinton-related emails. Now it’s not.
Arrested Developments 