Jill Stein Files for Vote Recount in Wisconsin

ByVERONICA STRACQUALURSI ABCNews logo
Saturday, November 26, 2016

Green Party candidate Jill Stein has filed for a recount of the general election results in Wisconsin -- one of three battleground states in which she is pushing for a recount.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission announced that it had received the petitions from Stein and Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente, another former presidential nominee for his self-created American Delta Party, this afternoon.

Stein posted on Twitter as well, urging volunteers to join the recount.

Stein is also pushing for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan -- the deadlines for filing are Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

"There is no smoking gun," said George Martin, a former co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party who's involved in Stein's recount effort, during a press conference today. "There's not something we're pointing to say that this is wrong in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. What we are saying is that there's enough peripheral evidence to warrant that our system should be investigated."

The campaign stresses that the recounts are not to change the outcome of the results but are rather a check and balance on the process of counting votes.

Martin said that the Green Party has been approached by computer scientists, election lawyers and other experts advocating vote recounts because of what they see as persuasive evidence of tampered election results. So far there has not been any verifiable evidence or proof of tampering or hacking.

Stein's campaign site promises "all money raised goes toward recounts," but also states, "We cannot guarantee a recount will happen in any of these states we are targeting. We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states."

Wisconsin Elections Commission Director Michael Haas said today in a statement that the commission is prepared to conduct a recount.

Stein's campaign site adds: "If we raise more than what's needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform."

Her campaign site breaks down the estimated costs -- $1.1 million for filing in Wisconsin, $500,000 for filing in Pennsylvania, $600,000 for filing in Michigan, $2-3 million for attorney fees, and additional money for statewide recount observers.

Stein initially sought to raise $2.5 million to help fund recount efforts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The campaign has since blown past the number she requested on Wednesday, and it is now seeking a new goal of $7 million, the estimated amount needed to cover a recount in all three states. As of noon Friday, the campaign has raised $5 million -- enough to cover the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to the campaign.

On Tuesday, New York Magazine reported that a group of computers scientists and election lawyers had urged the Clinton campaign to challenge the election results in the three states. The Clinton campaign has not commented on the report.

Stein received approximately 1 percent of the votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

ABC News' Margaret Chadbourn and William Gretsky contributed to this report.

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