Jill Stein has requested a full recount of the presidential election in Wisconsin, alleging that foreign hackers could have skewed the result by obtaining the state\u2019s voter database and then filing bogus absentee ballots.<\/span><\/p>\n Stein, the Green party\u2019s candidate in the presidential election, formally filed for a recount with Wisconsin authorities shortly before the state\u2019s 5pm deadline on Friday. She also planned to request recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania in the coming days.<\/span><\/p>\n Wisconsin\u2019s election board agreed on Friday to the statewide recount. The process, including an examination by hand of the nearly 3 million ballots tabulated in the state, is expected to begin late next week after Stein\u2019s campaign has paid the required fee, the Elections Commission said.<\/span><\/p>\n The state faces a 13 December federal deadline to complete the recount, which may require canvassers in Wisconsin\u2019s 72 counties to work evenings and weekends to finish the job in time, according to the commission.<\/span><\/p>\n The Wisconsin filing, a copy which was obtained by the Guardian, focuses on a \u201csignificant increase in the number of absentee voters as compared to the last general election\u201d. It had been thought that it would instead focus on the scale of Donald Trump\u2019s victories in counties using only electronic voting.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis significant increase could be attributed to a breach of the state\u2019s electronic voter database,\u201d Stein said in her petition regarding the rise in the number of absentee ballot filings. Trump won a narrow victory in the state against Hillary Clinton, surprising pollsters.<\/span><\/p>\n The 64-page recount filing contains an affidavit from J Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan\u2019s centre for computer security, who is an expert on election integrity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne explanation for the results of the 2016 presidential election is that cyberattacks influenced the result,\u201d Halderman writes in his five-page account.<\/span><\/p>\n Halderman said the hacking theory was \u201cplausible\u201d because other cyberattacks took place during the election campaign, some voting machines used in the US are highly vulnerable, and skilled hackers could change the result and \u201cleave no outwardly visible evidence\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Stein had raised more than $5m to fund her recount campaign. The deadlines for Michigan and Pennsylvania are next week.<\/span><\/p>\n Her move to challenge the counts has split opinions, with some energized by the thought it has potential to show defeated Democrat Clinton is the rightful election winner, and those who see Stein\u2019s intervention as an expensive gimmick to promote the Green party.<\/span><\/p>\n The fundraising site explained that Stein\u2019s campaign \u201ccould not guarantee\u201d any of these states would have a recount. \u201cWe can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states,\u201d the site said.<\/span><\/p>\n Amid questions from some quarters about how the money would be used, the site said: \u201cIf we raise more than what\u2019s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier on Friday, Stein said she was acting due to \u201ccompelling evidence of voting anomalies\u201d and that data analysis had indicated \u201csignificant discrepancies in vote totals\u201d that were released by state authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe do not have a smoking gun,\u201d Stein told CNN. \u201cOn the other hand, we have a system that invites hacking, tampering and malfeasance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She said her campaign had no direct evidence voting systems had been hacked \u2013 something independent experts have also been skeptical about. And Stein insisted the recount was not meant to block Trump, the surprise election winner, from becoming president.<\/span><\/p>\n Stein has frequently expressed disappointment in Clinton, and the day before the election described the Democratic nominee as a \u201cwarmonger\u201d and said a victory for the former secretary of state would be \u201ca mushroom cloud waiting to happen\u201d. Those comments led to Stein being condemned by elected members of the Green party in Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBoth of the candidates were at the highest level of distrust and dislike in our history and in my view, we as voters deserve a voting system that we can believe in,\u201d Stein said on Friday. \u201cAnd to my mind, having a verified vote is just a first step\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Stein launched the campaign amid wider calls to recount or audit election results. Groups of academics and activists were concerned that foreign hackers may have interfered with voting systems.<\/span><\/p>\n These groups have called on Clinton to intervene. She is leading in the popular vote by more than 2.1m votes, a lead which is expected to grow. But Trump won narrow victories against Clinton in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin earlier this month and was declared the victor in Michigan on Thursday \u2013 sealing his electoral college win.<\/span><\/p>\n Stein launched her fundraising effort on Wednesday afternoon and quickly surpassed the initial $2m fundraising goal by early Thursday morning, prompting her campaign to raise the goal to $4.5m. After crossing that threshold, the campaign increased the goal to $7m.<\/span><\/p>\n These funds will be used to file recount requests and for attorney\u2019s fees, according to Stein\u2019s campaign manager, David Cobb. He said $1m was needed for Wisconsin, $600,000 for Michigan and $500,000 for Pennsylvania. The rest of the money is expected to go to legal fees associated with the recount.<\/span><\/p>\n Adam Parkhomenko, national field director for the Democratic national convention and a longtime Clinton aide, said he did not support Stein and \u201cnever will\u201d, but: \u201cI support democracy and the right to count every vote. And kudos to her for leading on this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n US elections are so dominated by Democratic and Republican candidates that third-party candidates like Stein are more often seen as representing protest votes than a person with a legitimate shot at the White House. But these votes can greatly affect the race. For instance, Stein\u2019s total votes in Michigan and Wisconsin were greater than the gap between Clinton and Trump, as were votes for the other major third-party candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n And while it cannot be assumed that Stein voters would have voted for Clinton if Stein had not been on the ballot, it is a sensitive issue in such a tight race.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really wish Jill Stein had not waited until after the election to be so concerned about a few thousand votes tipping the election to Trump,\u201d said Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior policy adviser to Barack Obama.<\/span><\/p>\n He criticized the fundraising campaign as a \u201cwasted\u201d effort and said funds could be better used to help Democrats in smaller, local races.<\/span><\/p>\n There was more energy around third-party candidates in 2016 because of the unpopularity of the main party candidates. Yet in the past two days, Stein\u2019s recount campaign has raised more money than she did in the entirety of the presidential campaign. As of 19 October, Stein had raised $3.5m for her presidential race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.<\/span><\/p>\n Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/nov\/25\/jill-stein-election-recount-clinton-trump-michigan-pennsylvania-wisconsin<\/span><\/p>\n