GOP calls Stein recount request ‘absurd’

That’s enough, the party says, to fund audits in three states critical to Donald Trump’s victory: Pennsylvania, where the president-elect won by about 68,000 votes; Wisconsin, where Mr. Trump edged out Hillary Clinton by just over 27,000 votes; and MI, where Mr. Trump has a slight lead but where the votes are still too close to call.

Martin said Stein’s campaign will file a recount request with the Wisconsin Elections Commission in Madison by the 5 p.m. deadline Friday. Wisconsin votes won’t be the main focus for long; As Stein’s funds continue to pile up, her sights are set on eventual recounts in Pennsylvania and MI – all limited by the same December 13 deadline.

The three states (WI, MI, and PA) all voted narrowly in favour of Trump in the election, the margin being as little as 0.3% in Michigan, and for Clinton to overturn the results, she would need to secure the votes of all three disputed states.

The Stein campaign says the money goes toward covering filing fees, attorney fees and the cost of statewide recount observers in all three states.

Stein received only 1-percent of the vote. By Friday afternoon, the campaign was seeking to meet its estimated $7 million cost to cover the planned MI recount effort, too. Krauthammer dismissed any talk of election hacking or tampering, and called the recount a “trick” that Stein was using to “cash in” on keeping her name in the media.

The county boards of canvassers will conduct the recount, according to the commission’s statement, and will have the authority “to decide which ballots should and should not be counted”, Haas said.

The recounting of votes could reignite the debate over the legitimacy of Trump’s win after it was revealed rival and Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead in popular vote stands at two million. A recount in Pennsylvania has been funded by Stein’s efforts, too, which she plans to challenge in before a Monday deadline, according to The Times.

Wisconsin has 10 Electoral College votes. The $5 million total is more than she raises for her entire presidential campaign. “We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states”, she said.

Experts urged extra scrutiny of the three states, Stein said, because they had “unexplained high numbers of undervotes”, and “discrepancies between pre-election polling and the official result”.

But she insisted that the idea of a recount wasn’t to block Trump from becoming the president.