THREAD ON "ELECTION INTEGRITY": I have been on three recount teams - Jim Webb (2006), Tom Perriello (2008), and Mark Herring (2013). Election law is unfortunately obscure because elections usually aren't that close. But there is law, clear law. 1/

. @realDonaldTrump are @RudyGiuliani are lying to the people and to the courts about how elections work and how recounts are run and why recounts never change the result by more than a couple hundred folks at most. 2/

The election happens. Then, under each state's law, the "canvass" starts, usually the next day. That's when absentees and mail-in (including military) ballots are counted, and provisionals. It's also when ERRORS ARE FIXED. These errors are just that, errors. 3/

Sometimes, late at night on Election Day, an election official transposes a precinct's count (think "158" instead of "185"). Sometimes, a box of ballots is physically misplaced (this happened in Albemarle County in 2012). there are voter errors to fix. 4/

When I was doing the Herring recount at the Spotsylvania courthouse, a voter had accidentally filled in the "a" in Herring's name, rather than the bubble next to his name, so that was +1 vote. Here's the key: 5/

If the election itself was well-run, with ballots being actually counted (which is a factual question, not a matter of politics or opinion), the canvass -- and any recount -- won't change things very much at all. 6/

It really doesn't matter whether observers were 5 feet or 10 feet away, or whether they were allowed to be disruptive or not. There is now a PAPER TRAIL for these votes. They are there to be counted and recounted to a fare thee well. 7/

But the numbers will not change BECAUSE they were being so painstaking in counting them (remember everyone complaining about how SLOW they were being?) There is just no way to change facts being facts, ballots being ballots. There isn't. The results are in. 8/

The ballots exist. They's being canvassed before being certified, and they can certainly be recounted. But the results, unless they were within the very small (low 100's based on HUMAN ERROR), will not change. @JoeBiden won, @realDonaldTrump lost. End of story. 9/9