Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein has successfully petitioned for a vote recount in Wisconsin, and is expected to push further challenges in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Stein has raised over $4 million on GoFundMe to pay for the recounts, and is now aiming for $7 million to pay for filing and recount expenses and lawyer fees.
Wisconsin state officials confirmed Friday that the state will indeed conduct a recount in the presidential race, a state President-elect Donald Trump won narrowly and helped him secure an Electoral College victory. Stein, who placed a distant fourth in the race, is also expected to petition for a recount in Pennsylvania, another state Trump flipped on Election Day, and Michigan.
https://twitter.com/WI_Elections/status/802264791737716736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable. These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified." Stein said in a statement Wednesday. "We deserve elections we can trust."
The Clinton campaign has reportedly rebuffed attempts to get it to back Stein's efforts. The same reports say Clinton's team is not making a move because there have been no reports of widespread ballot tampering or voter fraud. Even after computer scientists implored Clinton to contest the vote totals in key states, her campaign remains silent.
Recounts in one or all three states would mean a hand count of all the ballots, including the ballots cast on voting machines, which are currently the votes being disputed the most.
"This is not being done to benefit one candidate at the expense of the other," Stein said on the PBS NewsHour. "This is being done because Americans, you know, come out of this election not happy campers."It is important to note that according to the fine print on Stein's website, there is no guarantee that the funds raised will go to the recount effort. Surplus money, it says, will go to "election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform." The donation terms do not specify exactly what this means.Photo Source: NBC News