State Recounts Could Alter Election Results
Green Party nominee Jill Stein filed a request to recount presidential election votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania just before Wednesday's deadline. Michigan's Bureau of Elections said it would move forward with its recount Friday despite the state's attorney general suing to stop it from happening.
Overturning Donald Trump's wins in the three key states could impact the election, but it's all or nothing. Hillary Clinton would need to be declared the winner in all three states, which account for 46 electoral votes, in order to reach the 270 needed to win the election.
"After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many American[s] to wonder if our election results are reliable," said Stein in a statement released on her campaign website. "These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential recount is certified. We deserve election results we can trust."
Stein's campaign website states that the voting machines used in Wisconsin were banned in California due to vulnerability to hacks and "malicious programming" and asks for a recount by hand. The campaign has so far raised almost $7 million of its $9.5 million goal to fund the recounts.
Any losing candidate can request a recount under state laws and Stein's campaign is well within its rights to do so. But in order for a recount to possibly put Clinton in the White House instead of Trump, she would need to win the electoral votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In Michigan, some 84,000 votes were cast without votes in the presidential category, according to the Detroit News. Past recounts in the state have revealed mechanical errors that led to missed votes, but the results were not significant enough to make any discernable difference in the election results.
Trump won Michigan by a slight margin of only 10,704 votes but won Wisconsin by 22,177 votes and Pennsylvania by 70,799 votes.
Leading up to Election Day, Real Clear Politics polling data had Clinton leading in all three states in head-to-head battles. In Michigan, Clinton had a lead in 39 of 42 polls. Clinton led in 53 of 59 Pennsylvania polls and all 32 Wisconsin polls.
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