On Friday, November 25, former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has filed for and obtained funding for a recount of the presidential votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These are considered “swing” states, and Trump won by a narrow margin.
After the final counts, Donald Trump ended the election with 306 electoral votes and 62,652,263 popular votes; Hillary Clinton received a total of 232 electoral votes and 65,124,828 popular votes. The recount is meant to see if any votes were missed or unaccounted for. This is the “first candidate-driven recount of a presidential election in 16 years,” according to Fox News. Donald Trump won both the popular votes and Electoral votes in all three of these states.
On Thursday, December 1st, Wisconsin was the first state to officially begin the vote recount. Stein has advocated to raise money in support of the recount. The campaign has gained a total of about $5.2 million for the recount. Wisconsin specifically is required to complete the recount by December 13, and it is estimated that it will cost about $1 million. Fox News reports that this is the first time the state will be performing a presidential recount.
Michigan has also never experienced a presidential vote recount. According to CBS News, the recount in Michigan could cost about $787,500 to $900,000. It is expected that the Wisconsin recount will cost about $3.9 million. After the recount was announced, Trump allies started trying to challenge the request. According to Politico, “A team of Trump attorneys filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania late Thursday requesting a dismissal of Green Party nominee Jill Stein’s recount effort, arguing that she lacks a valid claim and merely ‘alleges speculative illegality.’” Lawsuits in Michigan and Wisconsin followed. “It’s highly unlikely that Clinton could come out victorious after recounts in the three states…,” according to Politico. It is expected that the outcome will be similar to the previous numbers.
A huge amount of money is being spent on it, and by Jill Stein, who has no chance of becoming president. Many voters hope that it will lead to a Clinton win, which is unlikely to happen. If it does, while millions of Americans would be ecstatic, it could potentially lead to the public losing faith in the government and in democracy. So, do you think the vote recount is worth it? How do you feel about the whole process?