I wrote to the Recount folks at Jill Stein’s website to ask exactly how the money they raise will be used. Mostly to pay filing fees for recounts in the three states. Here is the full response:
Thank you for writing in.In 2004, the Cobb/LaMarche campaign demanded a recount in Ohio. Because of their efforts, an election administrator was exposed to have engaged in criminal activity and went to jail. We also exposed the profound problems with DRE machines, which helped to 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.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 state. We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states.If we do not raise enough for any recount (which is highly unlikely) we pledge to use the money for election integrity efforts and to promote systemic voting system reform. If we raise more than what's needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts.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.
Here are the filing fees and deadlines for each state:
- WI $1.1 million by Nov 25
- PA $.5 million by Nov 28
- MI $.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 $1 million.A public statement can be found on our homepage: jill2016.comAn email containing more information to send to your friends will be sent to our supporters who are already on our email list. You can sign up for emails at jill2016.com.If you still wish to donate, you can contribute up to $2,700 here: jill2016.com/recountIf you would like to donate more than $2,700, please let me know and I will re-direct you to the right person.Cheers,JulieStein/Baraka Help Desk
I don’t have $2700, but will make a donation according to my ability. Seems like a worthy cause.