Green Party nominee Jill Stein never had chance in WiFi-hating hell of winning the election — although she, Libertarian Gary Johnson, and Independent Evan McMullan may have mucked up some areas of the U.S. — but she’s demanding a recount of three key states. An audit of the vote, if you will, and Stein is raising the funds to do so for Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. If she ends up reeling in $2.5 million by these states’ deadlines, her wish (and that of many Hillary Clinton supporters) may come true. Stein’s request comes after experts and activists urged Clinton to demand a recount after hacking allegations. Stein aims to answer that call for her.
Now, Stein isn’t a fan of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. She declared that both candidates would leave her with “trouble sleeping” after one of their inevitable victories. And it looks like Stein would now prefer Hillary’s brand of sleeplessness over Donald’s because her online donation page calls for assistance to “ensure the integrity of our elections.” She stresses that these three states’ “data suggests a significant need to verify machine-counted vote totals.” So far, over $327,000 dollars have been raised, but deadlines will soon arrive as detailed below. Also, The Guardian notes that Stein’s brash move is likely designed to shield Democrats from backlash:
[T]his Friday is the deadline for requesting a recount in Wisconsin, where Trump’s winning margin stands at 0.7%. In Pennsylvania, where his margin is 1.2%, the deadline falls on Monday. In Michigan, where the Trump lead is currently just 0.3%, the deadline is Wednesday 30 November.
Senior legislators including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland have already called for deeper inquiries into the full extent of Russia’s interference with the election campaign.
Stein’s move would shield Democratic operatives and people who worked on Clinton’s bid for the White House overtly challenging the election. Several senior Democrats are said to be reluctant to suggest there were irregularities in the result because Clinton and her team criticised Trump so sharply during the campaign for claiming that the election would be “rigged” against him.
Everywhere one turns on social media, folks feel strongly for or against this proposed recount. However, one voice in particular — Heba Abedin, sister of Clinton aide Huma — is attracting lots of attention. As Heba points out, “A shift of just 55,000 Trump votes to Hillary in PA, MI & WI is all that is needed to win.” Considering how Clinton’s lead in the popular vote passed 2 million on Wednesday, shifting that many votes doesn’t lie outside the realm of possibility.
UPDATE: In just a few hours, Stein raised the $2.5 million she set out to raise.
(Via The Guardian & Jill Stein)