Jill Stein requests US election recount in battleground state Wisconsin
Updated
A third-party candidate for US president in this month's election has filed for a vote recount in the state of Wisconsin over concerns about hacking of electronic voting machines.
Key points:
- Green Party is aiming to raise $US7 million for legal action, voting system reforms
- Jill Stein says vote count request is to give Americans confidence in results after "hack-riddled election"
- Ms Stein also looking to request recounts in battleground states Pennsylvania, Michigan
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said her push for election recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania was aimed at assessing the integrity of the United States voting system, not at undermining Donald Trump's White House victory.
Ms Stein, who won just 1 per cent of the national vote herself, told CNN that while there was no evidence of tampering or other voting errors in the election, only a full review in those states would give Americans confidence in the results.
"This was a hack-riddled election," she said, pointing to hacks before the vote of political organisations and individual email accounts, as well as recent media reports citing concerns by computer security experts.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission confirmed it had received the petition, saying the recount would begin "late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount" and be complete by the December 13 federal deadline.
Mr Trump beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by 27,257 votes in Wisconsin, 70,010 votes in Pennsylvania and in Michigan by 10,704 votes.
Ms Stein has raised more than $US5 million ($6.7 million) since launching the recount campaign on Wednesday.
The Green Party said it wants to raise $US7 million ($9.4 million) for the recounts, including the cost of legal fees.
The deadlines to request recounts are on Monday for Pennsylvania and on Wednesday for Michigan.
Clinton victory still unlikely
While Ms Stein's effort this week may have spurred hope among disappointed supporters of Mrs Clinton, the chances of such recounts — if they take place — overturning the overall result from the November 8 election are extremely slim, given Mr Trump's margins of victory in the three states.
The Green Party said that despite the millions it has raised to fund the recounts it cannot guarantee any recounts would occur and that if its requests are denied or there are surplus funds it will use the money to push for voting system reforms.
Although Mr Trump won narrowly in the three states, the margins make it highly unlikely that any recounts would end up giving Mrs Clinton a win in all three states, which would be needed for the overall presidential election result to change.
The presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, or a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote.
The Electoral College results are expected to be finalised when electors meet on December 19.
Mr Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, although once the final tallies of votes are in, Mrs Clinton will have won the national popular vote by more than 2 million votes.
Reuters/ABC
Topics: us-elections, government-and-politics, world-politics, united-states
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