Not the author, but even if 17 is undercounted, it seemed their argument was more about the perception that the number was closer to 1700; which is patently ridiculous. And the propensity for a single political team to believe that.

Or, just as ridiculously, something like 2/3's of republicans believe The Big Lie(tm). Granting that an American election could be stolen, we might put the odds closer to 1%, but there is a perception that it is closer to 99%.

I believe what the author is getting at is how far our perceptions our from actual facts on the ground reality. And further what is concerning that most people who are aware of this don't even seem to mind.

Personally, I'm not sure what else we would expect, apes gotta have faith in something after all.