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So, in less than 1 day, Jill Stein raised over $3mm, which is more than the $2mm needed to force a recount in Wisconsin. While she attributed the accomplishment to "the power of grassroots organizing," we would tend to be a little more skeptical and would love to see exactly where those donations came from. Then again, maybe we're wrong and there really are just that many disaffected snowflakes out there willing to blow their money on an extreme long shot.But, today a new mystery has emerged in Stein's fundraising efforts. Apparently, the more money she raises the more expensive the recount effort becomes. Courtesy of the Wayback Machine we have the following snapshots from her fundraising page over the past couple of days:
Stein raised only $3.5 million from donors during her 2016 presidential campaign, prompting critics to charge that her ability to quickly raise nearly $5 million for an election recount indicates Clinton supporters are funding her.
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In the third presidential debate, however, Clinton chastised Trump for his unwillingness to pledge that he would accept the outcome of the election, reserving the right to challenge voter fraud. She called Trump's statement "horrifying." "That is not the way our democracy works," she said. "We've been around for 240 years. We've had free and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election."
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No recount in U.S. history has ever changed the outcome of a presidential election, including in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida that Democratic candidate Al Gore had hoped would deprive Republican George W. Bush of a narrow win.
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Meanwhile, efforts are under way to challenge the votes in three states won by Clinton: Nevada, Colorado and Virginia. Operation Sabot 2016, launched by the group Oath Keepers is contesting vote totals in Clark County in Nevada; Denver and Boulder Counties in Colorado; and Richmond, Fairfax, and Henrico Counties in Virginia.
"In all three states there were precincts where over 95 percent of the vote went to Clinton with voter turnouts above 90 percent," wrote "Navy Jack," an anonymous Navy veteran leading the Operation Sabot 2016 charge on the Oath Keeper's website. "Richmond, Denver and Clark County had precincts with more votes than registered voters," Navy Jack continued. "This is similar to what occurred in Philadelphia back in 2012. In Virginia, Governor McAuliffe issued 60,000 autopen pardons to allow felons to vote."
Navy Jack continued to note that McAuliffe sent each pardoned felon a personal letter asking them to vote for Clinton, accompanied by a voter-registration form, ballot and a return postage paid envelope. "In each of these cases, the President Elect appears to have been disadvantaged," Navy Jack concluded. "If recounts and investigations become inevitable, expanding the list of states to also include states won by former Secretary Clinton would be appropriate."
Comment: See also