Stein Campaign Publishes FAQ on Recount

As of 11 a.m., Eastern Time, on Sunday, November 27, the Stein/Baraka campaign’s recount initiative had received more than $6 million in mainly small-donor donations. More than 140,000 contributors donated an average of $45. That average contribution amount has remained steady since we began fundraising for the three-state recount. To illustrate the grassroots quality of this effort, only 414 contributors donated $1,000 or more, representing only 0.5% of all recount donors.

Because of you, recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are funded! Next up is Michigan.

Raising money to pay for the first two recounts so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing.

Now that we have completed funding Wisconsin’s recount (where we have already filed Friday, November 25) and Pennsylvania’s recount (due Monday, November 28), we will focus on raising funds for Michigan’s recount.

We are supporting a voter-initiated recount in Pennsylvania, in election districts where at least three voters in each precinct file affidavits with their County Board of Elections within the specified time frame. Interested voters can fill out the volunteer form. This page will ask for basic information and it contains a video of Jill Stein explaining the intricacies of submitting an affidavit. Then you will be re-directed to a page containing detailed information about the process. Get started: jill2016.com/recountPA

The Stein/Baraka campaign initiated the recount, and has led the subsequent fundraising and logistics management. Though Jill Stein was a Green Party presidential candidate, the party did not endorse the recount initiative.

Despite the many rumors swirling on the Internet, the Stein/Baraka campaign genuinely believes in the power of grassroots democracy. Independently funded candidates like Jill Stein cannot stand a chance if our electoral system is rigged in favor of establishment, corporate-funded candidates. The evidence so far shows it is easy to hack many voting machines being used in elections. Aside from conducting a recount, we advocate Ranked Choice Voting and federal campaign financing, just a few solutions put forth by the Green Party in its six-point plan for grassroots democracy. The Green Party Platform calls for “publicly-owned, open source voting equipment and deploy it across the nation to ensure high national standards, performance, transparency and accountability; use verifiable paper ballots; and institute mandatory automatic random precinct recounts to ensure a high level of accuracy in election results.”

We are not “working with” Hillary Clinton’s campaign in any way. Our lawyers have made courtesy calls to lawyers representing the Clinton, Johnson and Trump campaigns to determine their position on election integrity in general, and on these recounts specifically.

Greens have been behind electoral reform efforts for years, including the 2004 Ohio recount that sent an election administrator to jail and prompted California to ditch hackable DRE voting machines.

We are conducting these recounts because independent election experts have pointed to ‘statistical anomalies’ in the presidential election results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  Experts who have studied our voting system for years have concluded many of our voting machines are hackable. Whether these machines were hacked by foreign or domestic agents will be determined by using the mechanisms available to us in each state we conduct a recount. Statistical anomalies could arise through other means, as well.

Healing the country is exactly what Jill Stein is going for. As Jill often says, she’s practicing political medicine because “politics is the mother of all illnesses.” Yet, we cannot heal if we don’t know where we’re broken. The Stein/Baraka campaign aims to kickstart a national conversation around the integrity our electoral system and our democracy.

Each state’s laws dictate how we are able to investigate the integrity of the voting system. We will use every mechanism available to us. Plus, this kind of effort has positive consequences. A national nonpartisan watchdog group, Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota, formed after Green Party 2004 presidential candidate David Cobb (now the Stein/Baraka campaign manager) demanded a recount in Ohio that sent one election official to jail and prompted California to ditch hackable DRE voting machines.

The cost is a function of state laws. A portion of the money raised goes toward state filing fees, while the bulk goes toward legal fees and the cost of recount observers in each state.

Here is a breakdown of state filing fees:

• Wisconsin: $1.1 million by Nov 25
• Pennsylvania: $0.5 million by Nov 28
• Michigan: $0.6 million by Nov 30

Again, those are filing fees alone. Attorney’s fees are likely to be another $2-3 million. The total estimated cost is $6-7 million.

Frankly, we’re proud of our grassroots roots and our small-dollar donors. As of November 25, we were grateful to have received about 110,000 contributions at an average amount of $45.

The Federal Election Commission’s rules on campaign contributions still apply here. The good news: If you had donated the maximum amount of $2,700 as an individual contributor by November 8, you are now permitted to donate up to $2,700 to fund this recount initiative.

As a campaign, we’re beholden to the rules of the Federal Election Commission. It does not allow campaigns to use crowdsourced funds.

If we raise more than what’s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform.

Election integrity experts have independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where “statistical anomalies” raised concerns. We would do recounts in other states, but many filing deadlines have already passed. Recounts in states where deadlines have not passed would be considered if funds are available.

Conducting research on state deadlines and requirements for filing is difficult work. That’s why we’d appreciate your support in finding accurate data. You can start at the Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota.

As we said in the previous answer, election integrity experts have independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where “statistical anomalies” raised concerns. We would do recounts in other states, but many filing deadlines have already passed. Recounts in states where deadlines have not passed would be considered if funds are available.

Please note: When we started our recount efforts, the results in Michigan had not yet been certified, so those Electoral College votes had not yet been allocated to any candidate.

Conducting research on state deadlines and requirements for filing is difficult work. That’s why we’d appreciate your support in finding accurate data. You can start at the Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota.

The Stein/Baraka campaign was not on the ballot in those states, so it cannot file paperwork to recount votes.

County election officials and their staff recount ballots. We are recruiting volunteers to observe the process. You can sign up to volunteer through these links:

• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• Wisconsin

The recount process will be overseen by independent recount observers. We are hiring experienced lawyers to ensure the legality of our operations, and our staff is working around the clock to make sure we finish the recount before each state’s deadline.

The purpose of a recount is to ensure accurate vote counts for all candidates in the race the recount is being requested for—in this case, all candidates for President.

The Stein/Baraka campaign will use as many mechanisms available to us in each state to ensure the integrity of the vote results. We care about grassroots democracy—that includes counting all ballots (whether they be absentee or provisional) and working against voter suppression tactics like Interstate Crosscheck. Read our recent statements on:

• Interstate Crosscheck,
• Clinton and Trump illegally coordinating with Super PACs,
• rigged elections and
• welcoming international election observers.