Green Party eyes recount in Pennsylvania, but legal authority is unclear

On Sunday, after learning that Hillary Clinton had joined Jill Stein’s movement to challenge voter results in three states, Trump tweeted that several votes were cast illegally for Clinton. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 22,000 votes.

Green Party nominee Jill Stein received 51,463 votes in MI and has signaled she plans to ask for the Board of State Canvassers for a recount.

Stein must file her recount request by Monday in Pennsylvania and by Wednesday in MI.

Stein pointed to “hack-friendly” voting machines and restrictive voter identification laws as hindrances to accurate and reliable elections.

There has so far been no evidence indicating widespread voter manipulation or hacking of any kind on election day.

Unless Stein wins her lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court, officials in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties would decide on their own whether to do their recounts by hand.

“We stand behind our election results, which accurately reflect the will of the American people”, the administration said in a statement late last week.

If the recount in Pennsylvania falls through, it will be much to the delight of President-elect Donald Trump.

Stein has until Wednesday to petition for a recount in MI. Democratic Secretary of State Pedro Cortes says there’s no evidence of voting irregularities or cyberattacks on Pennsylvania’s electronic voting machines.

The Stein campaign has said it also plans to request recounts in Pennsylvania and MI. Stein can not simply ask to contest the results – residents must demand it for her. With 81 regular voting precincts and 21 absentee voter precincts, there will be 102 separate recount efforts in Livingston County alone, each requiring at least two recount team members. As of Sunday, about 1,500 people signed up, Stein said on Twitter.

Trump has been railing over the weekend against a recount effort led by the Green Party, that he has dubbed a “scam”.

Last week, Stein launched an initiative to raise $7 million to fund the recount fees in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and MI.

While Clinton officials said they have seen no evidence of vote tampering, and do not expect the results in any state to change, they believe their campaign needs to be represented during any recount process. “But now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides”. Trump, for example, was officially declared the victor of MI on Monday.

Pennsylvania Republicans have accused Stein and Clinton of being in cahoots, something stein denied.