Jill Stein Raises Over $6 Mil, Files For Recount in WI; Clinton Joins The Effort
Dr. Jill Stein, former Green Party presidential nominee, speaking at a rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
On November 23, the day before Thanksgiving, Jill Stein of the Green Party launched a campaign for a recount in the states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Creating a quasi Go Fund Me page on her campaign website, Stein/Buraka are calling their fundraising style “true grassroots fashion.” As of the writing of this article, $6.1 million of the needed $7 million has been raised.
On Friday, she made the Wisconsin deadline and filed for recounts. She also plans to push for recounts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Stein has vowed to push for recounts in other states that have not yet had filing deadlines.
On Saturday, the Clinton campaign team announced that they too would be joining the Stein/Buraka team in their recount crusade. This comes after numerous experts detected anomalies in the voting results in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. They have urged the Clinton campaign to pursue recounts but the campaign declined to do so. Though the Clinton team has stated they see no “actionable evidence” to pursue a recount, they support Stein’s efforts in an opportunity to assuage the public’s fears of hacked voting.
Listening and Responding To Calls for an Audit and Recount
President-elect Trump released a statement calling the recount “ridiculous” and a “scam by the Green Party.” He went on to imply that the money raised to cover the costs of the recount would not be exclusively going to the states.
Stein’s initial fundraising goal was $2.5 million which within three days was increased to the aforementioned $7 million. The Stein camp cited lawyer fees as cause for the upped goal. This has raised more than a few eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. Nate Silver tweeted this on Friday:
Not saying this Jill Stein thing is a scam, but if it were a scam, it would probably look a lot like this. https://t.co/pg4eAuFQ4h
Stein has admitted that the reality of the recount moving forward beyond her official requests, is not 100% likely. In an interview, Stein went on the record to say her party does not have “smoking guns,” but rather an “election surrounded by hacking.” Additionally, a recount would not be the fool proof method to determine the reality of a hacked campaign.
Some have pointed to the irony of Stein’s effort, because in some states, Trump’s margin of victory was less than the votes that Stein received:
The combined margin of victory for Trump in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin is 107,000 votes.
Should her recounts not move forward, deadlines be missed, etc., what is to become of the $7 million donated almost exclusively by private citizens? If “integrity” is Stein’s true mandate in this recount, one would think the ethics of her crusade would permeate every aspect.
