Jill Stein spent upwards of $973,000 on the Michigan recount, and the taxpayers are on the hook for more (and perhaps a refund to Ms. Stein, since the recount was not completed). One can either accept the results of an election or not. A former US political leader once said it was “horrifying” for a candidate to say he might not accept the results. Of course, the candidate that leader referred to was Donald Trump, who did say that he might not accept the election if he felt there was fraud. The “horrified” leader was Hillary Clinton, whose campaign lent support to Ms. Stein’s recount, as well as to the campaign to abolish the electoral college and to the claim that the “Russians hacked the election.” Wonder if she still is horrified?
By John Shaffer Well, Jill Stein got her wish and Wisconsin has completed its recount of the votes cast in the November general election. Going in to the recount, Donald Trump had a lead of 22,617. 2.976 million ballot Were cast in Wisconsin, and everyone of them has been recounted. Ms. Stein, seconded by Mrs. Clinton, wanted the recount. Mr. Trump did not, saying it was a waste of time and money and little more than an effort to delegitimatize his election. The results, after the full recount from every one of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, shows that although Hillary Clinton gained 713 votes, Donald Trump gained 844, so his lead expanded by 131 votes. Jill Stein, by the way, gained 66 votes and Libertarian Gary Johnson gained 74, so Mrs. Stein, who had the idea of a recount in the first place, actually lost ground to each of the other major candidates on the Wisconsin ballot . Now. Mr. Trump’s final lead over Mrs. Clinton has expanded to 22,748 votes. The cost of Mrs. Stein’s recount cost an estimated $3.5 million. She came in fourth in the election and the recount was the equivalent of a coach asking for a measurement when the ball carrier is tackled eight yards short of a first down. He may have the right to do so, but it is a largely pointless waste of time. That pretty well describes the Wisconsin recount. In Pennsylvania, Mrs. Stein withdrew her state case request for a recount – perhaps because she missed the deadline, or perhaps because she had no evidence that there were any mistakes in the original count. In fact, that’s pretty much what the federal judge said when he threw out her case: “suspicion of a hacked election borders on the irrational.” But a few counties had recounted votes anyway, and in both Lehigh and Allegheny counties the election officials reported no change in the original results. In Michigan, the recount had started, and Mr. Trump, as in Wisconsin, had added slightly to his lead, but a federal judge ended it, ruling that Ms. Stein doesn’t qualify as “aggrieved” under Michigan law – because she did not finish close enough to win in a recount. The judge also said that Ms. Stein’s charges that there are questions about the accuracy of the election count are “speculative charges,” and “not actual injury.” However, there are 662 voting precincts in Wayne County, Michigan (which includes Detroit). Here’s what the Detroit News reported, “Optical scanners in 248 of those precincts tabulated more ballots than the number of voters tallied by workers in poll books.” Well, on the bright side, most of them were only a few votes off.
Jill Stein spent upwards of $973,000 on the Michigan recount, and the taxpayers are on the hook for more (and perhaps a refund to Ms. Stein, since the recount was not completed). One can either accept the results of an election or not. A former US political leader once said it was “horrifying” for a candidate to say he might not accept the results. Of course, the candidate that leader referred to was Donald Trump, who did say that he might not accept the election if he felt there was fraud. The “horrified” leader was Hillary Clinton, whose campaign lent support to Ms. Stein’s recount, as well as to the campaign to abolish the electoral college and to the claim that the “Russians hacked the election.” Wonder if she still is horrified? Comments are closed.
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