Jill Stein Won't Appeal After Judge Rejects Hand-Count of Wisconsin Votes

Updated. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate who requested a recount of Wisconsin’s nearly 3 million presidential ballots to quell hacking fears, doesn’t plan to appeal after a judge rejected her lawsuit requesting a hand-count, the campaign said Wednesday.

Stein has requested ballot recounts in three battleground states that swung the 2016 presidential election to Donald J. Trump, even though his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won the popular vote by more than 2 million votes.

The Wisconsin recount begins Thursday and must be completed by 8 p.m. on Dec. 12.

The Stein campaign asked for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after a prominent group of election attorneys and computer scientists claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the election results in the three battleground states could have been hacked. Trump won the three states by razor-thin margins.

The Stein campaign said that given the time constraints, “our focus will be on verifying the vote on the ground and we urge all counties to follow the recommendation of the judge and conduct a hand recount, which she called the ‘gold standard,’” the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn said in her ruling that the Stein campaign hadn’t met Wisconsin’s high threshold for a hand-count of the ballots, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The Clinton campaign joined in the request for a Wisconsin recount.

Bailey-Rihn said there were good reasons for a hand-recount, but neither the Stein nor Clinton campaigns showed a legal basis — such as fraud — for her to mandate it.

“I follow the law. That’s who I am despite my personal opinions," Bailey-Rihn said. “It’s (the counties’) decision. It’s their discretion. I may disagree with it…but I must follow the law.”

More Patch Coverage on Recounts

• Swing-State Hacking Fears Fuel Talk of Recounts
• It's Official: Donald Trump Wins Michigan; President-Elect Could Fight Recount
• Jill Stein Plans Court Action to Force Hand Recount of Wisconsin Ballots
• Pennsylvania Recount Petition Filed; Election Called ‘Illegal’
• Hillary Clinton Campaign Will Participate in Wisconsin Recount
• Wisconsin Recount: Jill Stein Raises $3.5M to Cover Costs

Under Wisconsin law, county election officials may decide whether to recount the ballots by machine or order a hand-recount. At least 56 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, including Dane, plan a hand-count.

Stein’s campaign wired the $3.5 million needed to conduct the recount with just moments to spare Tuesday. The amount was higher than the campaign had anticipated, and the campaign had to quickly raise an additional $2.4 million to cover the costs.

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons