Foreign

U.S. Votes Recount Hope Fades

Published

8 years ago

December 12, 2016

The recount efforts spearheaded by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein are expected to come to a close today, with little evidence that they changed the overall outcome.

Stein initially filed for recounts in three states where the final margin for President-elect Donald Trump was narrow: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

In Wisconsin, the recount is expected to end Monday; officials said Friday that the recount was 95 per cent complete, and that it had yielded a net gain of 25 votes for Clinton.

In Pennsylvania, however, a federal judge ruled on Monday against Stein’s request for a review of the voting systems, saying it was possible they had been hacked and compromised.

In his decision, federal judge Paul Diamond said Stein’s allegation of possible election tampering “borders on the irrational.”

Diamond also cited the delay between Election Day and Stein’s decision to file the lawsuit, and said Stein did not have standing to sue on the issue.

“Granting her later than last minute request for relief, however, could well ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts.

“Such a result would be both outrageous and completely unnecessary; as I have found, suspicion of a ‘hacked’ Pennsylvania election borders on the irrational.”

Stein could appeal the decision, but time is short as all states must certify their election results by Tuesday, Dec. 13, so it is unlikely any new action could be taken before then.

In Michigan, the third state on Stein’s list, the recount process ended last week after a judge lifted an order forcing the state-wide review of ballots.

The recount lasted three days, and examined ballots in 20 of the state’s 83 counties.

Stein first began raising money for a possible recount in late November, and quickly began bringing in millions of dollars for the effort.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Stein’s effort has raised more than 7.3 million dollars in crowd-funding, according to her fundraising page.

NAN also reports that there were allegations of hacking of the U.S. voting system, which were fuelled after Democratic Hillary Clinton, projected to win the election, polled over 2.5 million votes ahead of President-elect Donald Trump but lost the presidency to him on electoral college.

NAN further reports that President Barack Obama has directed security agencies to commence fresh investigation into the alleged hacking, which should be concluded before the end of his tenure.