Jill Stein for President
November 28, 2016

Wisconsin Increases Recount Filing Fee to Outrageous $3.5-million

Friends, I have an important message for you. We need your help to stand up to the powerful forces trying to block our recount campaign for citizen democracy. We received word yesterday that the final estimate for the filing fee for the recount in Wisconsin is $3.5 million – an outrageous cost increase from the initial estimate of $1.1 million that was given to us by WI state elections officials based on the last statewide recount. But thanks to over 130,000 small donors like you, we have enough money in hand to pay this fee and move forward with the recount!

But because of this exorbitant fee increase – bringing the total money required for recounts in all three states to $9.5 million – we need your help. We’re not there yet, and we need every last penny to reach the $9.5 million benchmark. To support the recount efforts, go to www.Jill2016.com/recount and donate today. And share this video on Facebook and Twitter – we can’t let our voices be silenced by this obstruction to this citizen’s movement for a transparent and accountable vote. 

We stand by our commitment to verify that the vote in Wisconsin was accurate and secure and this exorbitant cost will not deter us. While this excessive fee places an undue burden on our efforts, we are committed to paying this cost in order to ensure that the voting in Wisconsin was accurate. It is another sign of a democracy in crisis that ordinary citizens must pay so steep a price in order to assure the validity of our votes. The grassroots demand for a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania will not be stopped, and we look forward to working with the Elections Commissions in Wisconsin and the other states to see this through. In doing so, we are committed to ensuring that a secure vote should not come at such an unconscionable cost. As citizens in a democracy, it should be our right.

- Jill

Jill Stein for President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 25, 2016
Contact: Meleiza Figueroa, Press Director

Jill Stein Files Recount Petition in Wisconsin

MADISON, WI - At 3:09pm Central Time, attorneys on behalf of Jill Stein electronically filed a recount petition to request a recount of the 2016 presidential election vote in Wisconsin, as part of a bid to demand recounts in the three states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Receipt of the filing from the Wisconsin Elections Commission was confirmed at 3:45pm.

The filing fee for the recount request in Wisconsin is estimated to be approximately $1.1 million. After opening a fundraising drive on Wednesday, the campaign raised the needed funds for Wisconsin within a matter of hours. So far, over $5 million has been raised from over 110,000 donors with an average of $45 each. Total costs are expected to be approximately $7 million dollars.

“We are standing up for an election system that we can trust; for voting systems that respect and encourage our vote, and make it possible for all of us to exercise our constitutional right to vote,” said Jill Stein, former Green Party presidential candidate. “We demand voting systems that are accurate, secure and accountable to the people. This is part of a larger commitment to election reform that our campaign and the Green Party has long stood for, which includes open debates, an end to voter ID laws and voter suppression, and ranked choice voting,” Stein added.

“The recount was not filed in order to change the election outcome, which is unlikely, nor to favor any one candidate. We are pursuing this recount to verify the integrity of the election result,” said David Cobb, Stein/Baraka campaign manager. As the Green Party presidential candidate in 2004, Cobb led a recount effort in Ohio which led to election reforms in other states, including the banning of DRE touchscreen voting machines in California and a revamped voting system in New Mexico. The recount also helped to launch a nationwide movement for election integrity.

The three states were recommended for scrutiny by election integrity experts and advocates because of the vulnerability of their voting systems and various indicators of concern - including unexplained high numbers of undervotes, the close results between the two candidates, and observed discrepancies between pre-election polling and the official result. Without meaningful machine audit procedures, a paper recount is the only sure way to verify an election result.

The recount petition will be transmitted to the county canvassing boards in Wisconsin along with a formal request for an estimate of recount costs and a decision on recount methodology. The recount could begin by the second half of next week.

The Stein/Baraka campaign is looking for volunteers to observe the recount in every county. To volunteer, interested individuals can contact the campaign at http://jill2016.com/RecountWI.
Jill Stein for President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 22, 2016
Contact: Meleiza Figueroa, Press Director

Stein/Baraka Campaign Launches Recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to Restore Confidence in our Voting System

Today, the Stein/Baraka campaign announced their intent to file for a recount of votes in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, leading a multi-partisan effort to check the accuracy of the machine-counted vote tallies in these states in order to ensure the integrity of our elections.

Jill Stein observed, “After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many American to wonder if our election results are reliable. These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust."

In an election surrounded by hacks, the use of systems that have been demonstrated to be easily hacked should concern every American.  Some of the machines used in Wisconsin, have been banned in California after they were shown to be highly vulnerable to hacking and malicious reprogramming, due to the lack of security features. Leading election security experts have been calling for exactly this sort of recount as a critical safeguard against cyberattacks.

The deadline for filing for a recount in Wisconsin is this Friday, November 25th, at a cost of $1.1 million. The Stein/Baraka campaign, along with election integrity advocates, are beginning in a massive [crowd source] fundraising effort to obtain the needed funds before Friday afternoon.

The Stein/Baraka campaign is well positioned to lead the effort as election integrity advocates, without a personal conflict of interest in the outcome.

“Greens have long been at the forefront of campaigns for election integrity,” noted David Cobb, Stein/Baraka campaign manager. As the Green Party presidential candidate in 2004, Cobb led the charge for a recount in the state of Ohio for that election year. “This effort is about holding the institutions of democracy accountable by ensuring all votes that are cast are counted,” said Cobb.

Stein noted, “Assuring the validity of our vote is a critical first step towards democratizing our elections. Other essential steps include ending discriminatory voter ID laws and voter purges (like “Interstate Crosscheck”); opening the debates to all candidates on the ballot in enough states to win the election; establishing Ranked Choice Voting, a system that enables voters to rank their choices, knowing that if their first choice loses, their vote is automatically reassigned to their second choice; and getting  big money out of politics - and letting the people back in."


Details You Need to Know

In 2004, the Cobb/LaMarche campaign demanded a recount in Ohio. Because of their efforts, an election administrator went to jail. We also exposed the profound problems with DRE machines, which helped launch an election integrity movement. That provoked California to engage in a "top to bottom" review of their voting system, which culminated in the abolition of DRE machines.

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."

Election integrity experts have independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where "statistical anomalies" raised concerns. Our effort to recount votes in those states is not intended to help Hillary Clinton.

These recounts are part of an election integrity movement to attempt to shine a light on just how untrustworthy the U.S. election system is.

All money raised goes toward recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. We hope to do recounts in all three states. If we only raise sufficient money for two, we will demand recounts in two states. If we only raise enough money for one, we will demand a recount in one state.

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.

Here are the filing fees and deadlines for each state:

Wisconsin: $1.1 million by Nov 25
Pennsylvania: $0.5 million by Nov 28
Michigan: $0.6 million by Nov 30
Those are filing fees alone. The costs associated with recounts are a function of state law. 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. The total cost is likely to be $6-7 million.

You can donate up to $22,700 per person by contributing up to $2,700 on this page.