Jill Stein and Vote Recounts

[Ben]

So I'm trying to figure out what's behind the whole vote recount thing, ostensibly led by Jill Stein. She has apparently collected more money for it than she received for her entire presidential campaign. Some random thoughts:

So the electronic voting machines that were 100% reliable and tamper-proof when Trump mentioned potential voter fraud are now rife with hackerware?

I believe it is Wisconsin where Stein's people are saying that Trump won by the 'incredibly slim" margin of 50,000 votes. If that's "incredibly slim", then I'd assume Trump's people could call it "slim" if miraculously (or by sleight of hand) the votes flipped to +50,000 for Hillary. They would have to find at least 50,000 "fraudulent" Trump votes, then if they're calling 50K slim, they'd better come up with an additional 20K or so votes for Clinton, or they just have the same "unreliable" vote count as Trump currently does. They would have to do the same for the other contended states.

At the risk of donning tinfoil, I'd heard that Soros is actually behind this and using Stein as a patsy, and that Clinton may be in on it as well, which is why she's laying low on the subject. Normally I'd label myself as a conspiracy theorist for thinking that, but these days and with those people, I'm not so sure.

Lastly, can these people give it a rest already?  I think even some mainstream dems are beginning to get tired of it all.

[Perd Hapley]

I'm surprised you didn't consult your favorite news source on this. 

http://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2016/11/25/nate-silver-if-jill-steins-recount-fundraiser-were-a-scam-it-would-probably-look-a-lot-like-this/

[Angel Eyes]

If the amount raised ($5.2 million at last count) exceeds the cost of the recount, what happens to the difference?  Does Stein get to keep it?
 
(I have no doubt that Soros and/or similar leftists with deep pockets are behind the fundraising)

(ETA: Stein & co promise the surplus (if any) "will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform", whatever that means)

http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/jill-stein-now-cant-guarantee-money-will-go-to-unlikely-recount/

[Andiron]

So.... Even if the recount goes against Trump it doesn't matter,  so why bother?

[Perd Hapley]

So.... Even if the recount goes against Trump it doesn't matter,  so why bother?

But Trump loses, if they manage to flip Wisconsin. And Michigan. And Pennsylvania.  

[RocketMan]

Heard on Fox News Radio driving home today that the Clinton camp admitted they are behind Stein's recount effort.

[Ben]

I'm surprised you didn't consult your favorite news source on this. 

http://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2016/11/25/nate-silver-if-jill-steins-recount-fundraiser-were-a-scam-it-would-probably-look-a-lot-like-this/

Okay, smart guy. 



Well, on Soros and Clinton, in some ways I'm glad that I wasn't wearing tinfoil. In other ways it's kind of a bummer that we're in an environment where that doesn't make me a whacko for believing it.

[Perd Hapley]

Unfortunately, we can't be surprised if we find out the Democratic Party is fielding assassination squads.  

And I'm not even one those people who believes in the Vince Foster stuff.

[Ben]

So at this point there is zero evidence of election fraud.

While there is no evidence of election tampering in the states, Green Party spokesman George Martin insisted "the American public needs to have it investigated to make sure our votes count."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/26/clinton-team-joins-steins-three-state-vote-recount-that-begins-in-wisconsin.html

In other words, "We're just doing this for the fun of it and to be pains in the asses." To my mind, this is no different than BLM blocking a freeway or the entrance to a store.

Apparently Clinton only won NH by a couple thousand votes. Maybe there should be a recount there, and probably several other states that went her way with under 50,000 votes. Or heck, recount CA to find how many of the nearly 4 million votes for Clinton over trump were provisional ballots submitted by dead people, multiple personalities, and illegals. If there is voter fraud anywhere, I bet CA is rife with it.

I'm gonna laugh like crazy if the recount reduces Clinton votes. Of course (tinfoil again) the Soros machine has had plenty of time to "discover" uncounted ballots by now.

[Ben]

A few Hillary quotes regarding the questioning of election results:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5225577435001/?#sp=show-clips

[zxcvbob]

I wonder if the recount is really just to encourage faithless electors when the electoral college meets.

[Ben]

Hey Fistful, look - I'm using my favorite news source. 


This is somewhat interesting: The White House is stating that "...the election accurately reflects the will of the American people".

http://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2016/11/27/suck-it-up-hillary-lost-white-house-obliterates-recount-effort-election-reflects-will-of-the-people/

[Hawkmoon]

Just found this:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/11/the_democrats_real_strategy_in_launching_recounts.html

Interesting concept ...

[just Warren]

Interesting article.

There's also a chance that a faithless elector could cast his EV for a third person and if that person is more acceptable to the Republicans then a person no one voted for could end up as president.

[Monkeyleg]

Stein got 30,980 votes in Wisconsin. Presumably those votes would have otherwise been cast for Hillary. If Stein was so concerned about Hillary winning, why didn't she just stay out? Hillary would have won Wisconsin and other states, and the presidency.

Stein's ballot recount fund-raising looks like a scam to me. I'm sure she'll compensate herself well for her efforts.

[JN01]

I heard they just found several boxes of previously uncounted ballots in Michigan.  Mysteriously, all the votes were for Al Franken.

[Scout26]

She may get a recount in WI, but not PA unless she can show fraud.  Michigan requires at least an allegation of fraud when the difference is over 2,000 votes.

http://www.weaselzippers.us/309959-recount-a-pipe-dream-would-have-to-be-taken-to-court-in-pa-chances-of-overturning-results-in-3-states-virtually-impossible/

http://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/the-trouble-with-recounts-in-the-name-of-hacking.html

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2016/11/27/recount-effort-hits-a-major-snag-417034


Why not recounts in NH and NV.  Both of which had a closer vote count (NH-Clinton by 2700, and NV-Clinton by 26,000) then any of the states Trump won.   If she really was concerned about the election intergrity as she claims, then those would be the states to target for recounts.  Unless of course she is what she has been all along, a useful idiot.

And it could be a scam:

We cannot guarantee a recount will happen in any of these states we are targeting. We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states. If we raise more than what’s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform.

If she is really going to use the surplus for "election integrity efforts", then that money will be used to push for Voter ID laws?  

[Perd Hapley]

Can somebody check my numbers and maths on this?

The states being contested have 10, 16, and 20 votes, respectively. Trump's current electoral vote count (including Michigan) is 306. For Trump's total to fall below 270, he would have to lose all three of those states. Yes?

[DittoHead]

So at this point there is zero evidence of election fraud.

Does voter fraud not count as election fraud? Or is that a whole different thing?

[Ben]

Does voter fraud not count as election fraud? Or is that a whole different thing?

The election fraud here is "the Russians did it", so yeah, in this case, two different things.

[DittoHead]

Just seems like with all the talk of a rigged election, dead people & illegals voting, this would be a good opportunity to shed some light on that and make Stein pay for it. Since Trump won it seems like no one cares about voter fraud anymore.

[Ben]

Just seems like with all the talk of a rigged election, dead people & illegals voting, this would be a good opportunity to shed some light on that and make Stein pay for it. Since Trump won it seems like no one cares about voter fraud anymore.

Oh, I'd agree with that. Sadly, most of what you spoke of takes place in states like CA, which will never be audited, because racist or something.

[DittoHead]

Also I see now that the Clinton campaign will participate in the recount - what does that mean? They just send observers?  Do they challenge ballots?

[AJ Dual]

IMO, the whole thing is just astroturf to try and re-visit all the butthurt of "Selected not Elected" that happened after Bush v. Gore in 2000 with the Florida recount.

There's no real belief on their part that they're actually going to flip a state here.

If anything, they're going to piss and moan and demand hand recounts or anything else to delay and stall so they run up against the hard deadline for the EC vote, and can then claim they were unfairly stopped etc.

It's just agitprop and a money grab.

In terms of political/fundraising triage, it's like when the ER doc on the TV show gives up on the defibrillator, and dramatically jumps up on the gurney, straddles the patient, and drops a hammer fist on their sternum. 

[Perd Hapley]

IMO, the whole thing is just astroturf to try and re-visit all the butthurt of "Selected not Elected" that happened after Bush v. Gore in 2000 with the Florida recount.

I think so. As I mentioned, they would have to flip all three of the states in question. Or I guess if they flipped PA and MI, and then flipped two electoral delegates, that would work, too.