Wisconsin agrees to statewide recount

The Wisconsin election board agreed on Friday to carry out a statewide recount of votes, which is expected to begin late next week once Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, has paid the required fee.

The Wisconsin commission confirmed receipt of her recount petition at 3:45 p.m. local time, which was just little over an hour before the deadline for filing.

In the state where Donald Trump won by only 22,000 votes, Jill Stein believes a recount is necessary. This is not to undermine the President-elect’s win, but part of an “election integrity movement to attempt to shine a light on just how untrustworthy the US election system is.”

“This was a hack-riddled election,” Jill Stein told CNN, pointing to the various cyber-attacks on political organisations before Election Day and media reports citing concerns over electronic voting.

Jill Stein has raised at least $5 million dollars since launching her fundraising page on Wednesday for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. This is more money then the Green party managed to raise over the entire election process, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. 

The Wisconsin filing focuses on a “significant increase in the number of absentee voters as compared to the last general election”.

“This significant increase could be attributed to a breach of the state’s electronic voter database,” Stein said in her petition regarding the rise of absentee ballot filings.

Wisconsin faces a Dec. 13 deadline to complete the recount, which will require canvassers in the state’s 72 counties to work evenings and weekends to finish the job in time, according to the commission.

Although Donald Trump narrowly won in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the margins mean it is highly unlikely that any recounts would give Clinton a win in all three states, which is what is needed for the overall election result to change.

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