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Jill Stein’s recount push ends with minimal change in Wisconsin vote count

Jill Stein’s recount push ends with minimal change in Wisconsin vote count

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Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein Discusses Recount Effort
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Just two weeks after it was launched, Jill Stein’s push for a recount of the presidential vote in three states has come to an anticlimactic end. According to the Associated Press, an official recount in Wisconsin, bankrolled by Stein’s fundraising, found no evidence of hacking or other irregularities and altered vote totals by only a fraction of a percent. The final results saw Trump’s lead grow by 162 votes, with fewer than 1,800 votes changing out of a total of 3 million ballots cast. The result is well within expected margins of error.

The Wisconsin results come on the heels of court rulings in Michigan and Pennsylvania that denied Stein’s other requests for a recount. Both states were drawing close to their electoral college reporting deadline, and missing the deadline could result in invalidating the states’ electoral votes.

Despite Stein’s concerns, no evidence has surfaced indicating any direct attack on voting infrastructure, although both the CIA and broader intelligence community have stated they believe Russia did conduct hacking operations with the aim of influencing the election. Many argued the recounts were valuable as a means of publicly verifying that no interference occurred. In Wisconsin’s case, at least, that seems to have been the effect. Whether it was worth the millions raised by Stein to litigate the cases is an open question.