Stein Escalates Pennsylvania Recount Efforts
By Gennaro Ilaria 12/6/16
“The people deserve answers,” Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein tweeted as she announced her plans to pursue the vote recount in Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania state court ruled Saturday that voters requesting a recount must pay a $1 million bond, Stein responded with a federal lawsuit after originally planning to stop her efforts.
Stein tweeted her plans from that point forward Sunday night, saying she would “escalate” her efforts by taking her case to federal court. She also said that she demanded “a statewide recount on constitutional grounds.” A statement from her campaign later confirmed this.
“The state court system is so ill-equipped to address this problem that we must seek federal court intervention,” said Jonathan Abady, lead counsel to Stein’s recount effort. The campaign is also still pushing for forensic audits of voting machine software in the state.
Stein herself also spoke out against what she saw as inefficiency in the government, saying that the recount process was so expensive “because of elected leaders who have refused to invest in a 21st-century voting system.” She also said that the court had “no interest in giving a fair hearing to these voters’ legitimate concerns over the accuracy, security and fairness of an election tainted by suspicion.”