After raising nearly $7 million to fund recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, it would seem that Jill Stein’s campaign will not follow through with their plans in one of those states. The campaign announced Saturday night that the efforts for a recount in Pennsylvania would not be happening due to the hefty price tag to move the process forward in the state.
How odd is it that we must jump through bureaucratic hoops and raise millions of dollars so we can trust our election results? #Recount2016
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) December 4, 2016
#Recount2016 is so expensive because of elected leaders who have refused to invest in a 21st-century voting system.
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) December 4, 2016
The Wall Street Journal reports that recounts in a “handful” of Pennsylvania precincts will continue, but the statewide effort that the Stein campaign aimed for will not continue:
The decision came two days before a court hearing was scheduled in the case. Saturday’s court filing to withdraw the case said the Green Party-backed voters who filed the case “are regular citizens of ordinary means” and cannot afford the $1 million bond ordered by the court by 5 p.m. Monday. However, Green Party-backed efforts to force recounts and analyze election software in scattered precincts were continuing.
Stein planned to make an announcement about the Pennsylvania recount Monday outside the Trump Tower in New York.
The decision has ruffled many who donated to the effort for a recount, many replying to Stein on Twitter to ask where their money is going. The consensus seems to be that the price tags continued to rise in each state, pushing the total for the fundraiser higher. The $1 million required by Pennsylvania on Monday was “too much, too soon,” though representatives already had doubts about the recount in the state noting it was “without precedent.”
Republican lawyers for both the party and Trump claimed that the efforts in Pennsylvania were “solely for purposes to delay the Electoral College vote in Pennsylvania for President-Elect Trump.” There is also no evidence of voter tampering or hacking during the state’s election, despite many false claims to the contrary.
The recounts will continue in Wisconsin and Michigan, the latter of which is being contested by the Trump campaign.
(Via The Washington Post / NPR)