Keep humans relevant: Why Dave Ross wants a vote recount
Nov 28, 2016, 5:29 AM | Updated: 9:39 am
A recount appears to be coming and the biggest question is this: Why would President-elect Donald Trump, who repeatedly warned of a rigged election and who just tweeted that there were millions of illegal votes, be against it?
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
And from the other direction: why do so many liberals, who ridiculed the idea of voter fraud, now insist there was voter fraud?
I would argue that recounts — no matter why they happen, and no matter who wants them – are a great idea. And it has nothing to do with the election. It’s because a recount is the kind of job computers can never do.
Related: Could ‘forgotten men’ lead to more political extremism in the U.S.?
All of us are waiting to see which jobs Trump is able to bring back, right? And the reason this fascinates us is because a lot those jobs were eaten by robots. Those robots aren’t just taking factory jobs, they’re taking the jobs of accountants, lawyers, and journalists! Yes, computers are now writing news articles. Their writing is lousy, but they will keep trying because they don’t need to sleep, or to stand outside watching third-grade soccer games.
That is why recounts or any job that involves holding a computer accountable is so important. Checking up on computers is by nature a job a computer can never do. And even if someone did invent a computer to check other computers, you’d need humans to check that computer too.
That’s why I embrace the recount. And why I am secretly hoping it will find some glitch, some hiccup, some digital sneeze that changed a few votes. That isn’t because I want to change the results of the election, but because I want us to remain relevant.
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
