What You Need to Know About Vote Recounts

Nearly no one expects Stein’s push for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to result in a Clinton victory over Trump. Certainly, it seems safe to assume that many if not most of Stein’s supporters were progressives who saw themselves as falling to the left of Clinton, but might have been persuaded to vote for Clinton to stop Trump – had Stein encouraged them to do so. The decision, if unchallenged, gives the state’s 16 electoral college votes to Trump. She says a hand recount is the only way to determine whether votes as reported are accurate.

Jill Stein is pushing ahead for ballot recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, now with the cooperation of the Clinton team.

The Michigan Republican Party has come out as one of the recount’s strongest critics, with party chair Ronna Romney McDaniel saying the recount is a waste of time and resources.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission held a teleconference on Wednesday morning, November 30th to talk with the state’s county clerks about how to handle the presidential recount of ballots.

Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the presidential contest has unleashed talk of recounts, with the Republican president-elect contributing a surprise twist. The Clinton campaign added that if Stein follows through on her promise to request recounts in MI and Pennsylvania, it will join the efforts in those states as well. A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, and the recount is set to begin on Thursday.

Green Party officials filed for a recount in Wisconsin Friday after some limited reports of possible voting discrepancies in areas that used paper ballots versus those where electronic voting took place. Consequently, the former presidential candidate who won less than 2 percent of the national vote filed a suit in Dane County, Wisconsin, to force a hand recount.

The deadline to finish is December 13. But if a Wisconsin recount does result in her winning, she would gain 10 electoral college votes, bringing her total up to 242 and Trump’s down to 296. The last one in a candidate race was 1950, when Democrat G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams beat Republican Harry Kelly by 1,154 votes. On Tuesday, Stein or De La Fuente, or both, must pay in full, which will trigger a “recount order” to all candidates.

But when asked if the county can finish the recount in ten days, she had doubts.