Green Party's Jill Stein has raised enough funds to force recounts
Green Party candidate Jill Stein has raised $5.15 million to pay for voting recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
However, the clock is running out on the deadline to file the papers. Stein and her team have until 5 pm ET to challenge the results in Wisconsin. The deadline for Pennsylvania is Monday. She's also asking for more funds to file for Michigan, which is due to be filed Wednesday.
She has less than 90 minutes to get the paperwork in order.
If successful in overturning all three states, Hillary Clinton would be President. There was some widely-publicized analysis from the University of Michigan showing that Trump fared better than he should have in counties with electronic balloting.
What's puzzling is why Stein is spearheading a campaign that would benefit Clinton. It has already raised more money than her entire Presidential campaign. The pledge site says it's part of a movement for election integrity.
"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," the site says. "If we raise more than what's needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform."
It also says the total cost should only be about $2.2 million and her original goal was $2.5 million.
As the money came pouring in the goal was changed to $7 million and it was updated to say "Attorney's fees are likely to be another $2-3 million, then there are the costs of the statewide recount observers in all three states."
Those are some expensive lawyers. My guess is that the rest of the money earmarked for "election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform" will find its way into the Green Party's warchest.
