Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2016 presidential candidate, on Wednesday launched a fundraising effort to pay for a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Stein would need to raise more than $2 million by Friday in order to proceed with the request for a recount in those states, according to the fundraising page.
NBC News’s Alexandra Jaffe reported earlier on Wednesday that Stein would request a recount if she could raise enough money to do so.
News: Jill Stein’s going to file for a recount in WI, MI & PA if she can raise the money—will announce on FB shortly.
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) November 23, 2016
Stein’s effort follows a report in New York Magazine that a group of computer scientists and experts have been urging the Hillary Clinton campaign to request a recount in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, claiming that the results in those states may have been hacked or manipulated. The group of experts did not find actual evidence of hacking, but said that there were discrepancies between Clinton’s performance in areas of Wisconsin that used paper ballots and areas of the state that used electronic voting machines. The report in New York Magazine did not say what patterns the experts found in Pennsylvania and Michigan to suggest that totals there were manipulated.
The fundraising page for Stein’s recount effort did not mention the New York Magazine report specifically, but said that “data suggests significant discrepancies in vote totals” in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Stein’s communications director, Meleiza Figueroa, teased the announcement in a Facebook video on Wednesday afternoon. Figueroa said that “the reports on voting anomalies have been pouring in” and said that there have been news reports with “cyber security experts, computer experts who have been looking at this issue.”
