Green Party Candidate Jill Stein to File for Vote Recount in 3 Battleground States
The campaign for Green Party candidate Jill Stein announced Wednesday that it’s gunning for a recount in three battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — to address concerns about the election before it is certified.
“After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many American to wonder if our election results are reliable,” Stein said in a statement from her campaign. “These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust.”
Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, initially said they hoped to raise over $2.5 million — the money needed to fund recounts in the three states — by Friday, the deadline to file in Wisconsin.
And by early Thursday, that initial goal was met: According to the campaign website, more than $2.6 million had been raised, with the goal now listed as $4.5 million.
An updated statement on the website read, “First recount funded. Two more to go! Congratulations on meeting the recount costs for Wisconsin. Raising money to pay for the first round so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing. Now that we have nearly completed funding Wisconsin’s recount (which is due on Friday), we can begin to tackle the funding for Michigan’s recount (due Monday) and Pennsylvania’s recount (due Wednesday).”
Stein received 1 percent of the votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump won Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump leads in Michigan by about 10,000 votes and the state certifies the results on Nov. 28. Stein won 1 percent of the national vote, a little over 1 million votes, for president.
However, the campaign said the purpose of filing for a recount is “more than the results of this one election,” and that it’s more so about “protecting our democracy and ensuring” voters can have “confidence in reported results.”
