Trump allies try to block recounts

On Saturday, her lawyers withdrew her state suit, saying petitioners “are regular citizens of ordinary means” and can not afford to pay the $1 million bond the court required for the recount to proceed.

As The New York Times reports, lawyers for the Green Party told the court that the petitioners challenging the results in the hopes of forcing a statewide recount were “regular citizens of ordinary means”, and that the million bond the court demanded to proceed with the case was prohibitively expensive.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein has abruptly dropped her petition for a recount of all votes cast in the U.S. presidential election in Pennsylvania after a judge ordered her campaign to post a $US1 million ($1.34 million) bond, according to court documents.

Thomas said that under state election law, officials must wait two business days after ruling on Trump’s protest, before starting the recount. The campaign is also still pushing for forensic audits of voting machine software in the state.

They also argue that it threatens due process rights because it may not get done by the federal deadline to certify the vote, putting Wisconsin’s electoral votes in jeopardy. In all three traditionally Democratic-leaning states, Trump only narrowly defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a Trump supporter who was the target of a 2011 statewide recount, shared the sentiments of many regarding the presidential retabulation.

Mr Trump, who beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov 8 election, has called the recount effort a “scam”.

For example, Trump’s margin of victory in MI was only 0.22 percent of the total vote.

The Green Party shifted strategy in its recount effort Saturday, saying it will pursue a statewide effort in Pennsylvania in federal rather than state court. In moving to dismiss the court case, Team Stein stated that it couldn’t raise the $1 million.

As the Stein and Trump camps battle out the recounts in court, J. Alex Halderman, who suggested the idea of a recount in a post on Medium on November 23, said it could be a good thing, even if it reveals nothing. Ed Morrissey notes that, with one-third of precincts having completed their recount, Trump has extended his lead over Clinton by 12 votes.

Elections officials in Wisconsin on Thursday began the task of recounting about 3 million votes across the state, while continuing to face legal challenges from Trump backers.

Stein won only about 1 percent of the count in this year’s race, but her recount efforts have a greater meaning. So, why did Jill Stein drop her recount effort in Pennsylvania?