Jill Stein to take Pennsylvania recount to federal courts

Hours after dropping its case at the state level, the campaign said late Saturday it will pursue efforts in federal courts to contest the November 8 election in Pennsylvania.

As multiple outlets have reported, attorneys representing the party and its presidential candidate Jill Stein dropped their Pennsylvania recount court challenge on Saturday, just two days ahead of when the court would’ve required the petitioners to pay a $1 million bond.

Trump’s team and the Pennsylvania Republican Party have asked for the case to be dismissed.

In Pennsylvania, a hearing is scheduled for Monday on Stein’s push to secure a court-ordered statewide recount there.

After announcing they were dropping the case in state court, lawyer Jonathan Abady said in a statement Saturday night they will seek an emergency federal court order Monday.

In a separate effort, the campaign had hoped voters in Pennsylvania precincts would submit petitions to their local election boards asking for recounts.

The case in Pennsylvania court has been part of an effort spearheaded by Stein to force recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Recounts are underway in some Pennsylvania counties and in Wisconsin.

GOP lawyer Lawrence Tabas said Saturday the case had been meant “solely for purposes to delay the Electoral College vote in Pennsylvania for President-Elect Trump”. If the recount goes ahead immediately, Stein’s people will have a great advantage, because they will have their hundreds of volunteers ready, and the Republicans won’t, Gordon said.

The state Elections Commission, named as the defendant in the suit, responded with a Twitter post saying county officials should continue with the recount until a judge says to stop.

The state’s top election official – a Democrat – said earlier this week that there was no evidence of a cyberattack.

Stein is proceeding with recounts in various voting districts in Pennsylvania, but there will be no statewide recount.

However, Stein indicated Sunday that she’s planning a counter-move, an attempt to circumvent the Pennsylvania court system.

“Anytime there’s a recount, you want to make sure that the party that’s behind the candidate that won wants to make sure they aren’t kicking out votes that were legitimately cast”.

On Friday, a federal court in Wisconsin rejected a request by Mr Trump’s supporters to immediately halt the recount there, but allowed a lawsuit to proceed.

Stein’s lawyers argued that waiting until Wednesday to start a recount would cut too close to the December 13 deadline to have it finished.

Pennsylvania’s automatic statewide recount trigger is 0.5%, according to the Associated Press. Trump won the state by 10,704 votes – a mere two-tenths of a percentage point – the tightest presidential race in the state’s almost 200-year history. Stein received about 1 percent of the vote. And any recount would change few votes, Cortes predicted.

Clinton led the national popular vote by more than 2.5 million votes but lost in the decisive electoral vote, in which states are weighted by population.