While this should come as a shock to precisely no one other than some disaffected Hillary supporters who were hoping for a miracle, Jill Stein’s request for a full “hand recount” in the state of Wisconsin has officially been denied by Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn. According to the StarTribune, the request was denied after the judge found that Stein failed to show any mistakes or irregularities that would bring a machine recount into question.
A Wisconsin judge has refused to order local officials to conduct the state’s presidential recount by hand.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested the recount last week. She alleged — without evidence — that the state’s voting equipment may have been hacked.
The state Elections Commission has ordered the recount to begin Thursday but rejected Stein’s request that county clerks conduct the recount entirely by hand. Stein filed a lawsuit seeking an order for a statewide hand recount.
Stein’s attorneys argued during a hearing Tuesday evening that the best way to determine if a cyberattack occurred is to check ballots by hand against electronic tabulations from Election Day. State lawyers countered there’s no evidence to suggest any attack took place.
Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn refused to issue the order, saying Stein’s team failed to show any mistakes or irregularities that would bring a machine recount into question.
Of course, this should come as little surprise to our readers as we noted shortly after Stein filed her Wisconsin petition that she didn’t’ “offer a single shred of actual, tangible evidence that the election results in Wisconsin were in anyway tampered with.”
Of course, while Stein reiterates numerous allegations of foreign hacking that were well circulated, yet never officially linked to a specific source, before the election, her petition doesn’t offer a single shred of actual, tangible evidence that the election results in Wisconsin were in anyway tampered with.
Even her so-called “computer science expert” offers up nothing more than baseless theories on “plausible” explanations of how the Wisconsin results may have been hacked. Sure, because it’s just so impossible to believe that a flawed candidate with multiple ongoing FBI criminal investigations may have simply lost the election.
With that, we’re all officially one step closer to Jill Stein’s imminent departure from the national spotlight.
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As we noted previously, Stein’s lawsuit for a hand recount came after the Wisconsin Election Commission denied her request earlier this week.
Finally, a voice of reason emerges in Wisconsin to combat Jill Stein’s useless recount crusade. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairman, Mark Thomsen, who happens to be Democrat, announced earlier that the committee would follow through with Stein’s recount request but denied a request that the recount be conducted by hand. Thomsen cited a 2011 recount that changed the overall vote margin by 300 votes as evidence that the current recount would overturn Trump’s 22,177 vote lead in the state.
Citing the results of a 2011 statewide recount that changed only 300 votes, Elections Commission chairman Mark Thomsen, a Democrat, said this presidential recount is very unlikely to change Republican Donald Trump’s win in the state.
“It may not be 22,177,” said Thomsen, referring to Trump’s win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the vote count. “But I don’t doubt that the president-elect is going to win that.”
Thomsen dismissed Stein’s claims of problems with the vote as unfounded and misleading. But he directed his toughest criticism to Trump’s unsupported allegations that millions of people voted illegally nationwide, calling them “an insult to the people that run our elections.”
Under the plan adopted Monday, the recount would begin Thursday and could cost $1 million. Of course, we assume that Stein didn’t factor in the incremental costs associated with suing states that call her out for her ridiculous recount efforts. As such, she may need to raise some more money just as the flow of funds seem to have slowed to a trickle…we suspect Hillary supporters have finally caught on to the scam.
Here is the official timeline for the recount per the Wisconsin Election Commission:
Monday, cost estimates and vote tabulation method will be provided by county clerks to the commission by noon. Commission officials will provide estimated statewide costs to the campaigns of both Stein and De La Fuente by the end of the day.
Tuesday, the Stein, De La Fuente or both must pay for the recount. Once full payment is received, the commission will issue a recount order to all presidential candidates.
Wednesday, commission staff will hold a teleconference in the morning for all county clerks and canvass members to outline the process and rules of a recount. Since a 24-hour public meeting notice is required for the recount, each county must post its notice by Wednesday.
Thursday, recount begins in every Wisconsin county.
Dec. 12, all county canvass boards must be completed by 8 p.m.
Dec. 13, Elections Commission staff will prepare the official recount canvass certification by 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, this may all be a “best case scenario” for Stein who would get to pocket the $6.3mm raised so far if recount efforts are denied and she decides to walk away.
