Green Party will switch to federal court for Penn. recount bid

[milestogo]

Source: CBS News

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A Green Party-backed campaign changed its strategy to force a statewide recount of Pennsylvania’s Nov. 8 presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump, and said late Saturday night that it will seek help in the federal courts, rather than the state courts. The announcement that it would seek an emergency federal court order on Monday for a recount came hours after it dropped a case in the state courts.

“Make no mistake - the Stein campaign will continue to fight for a statewide recount in Pennsylvania,” recount campaign lawyer Jonathan Abady said in a statement issued around 11:30 p.m. “We are committed to this fight to protect the civil and voting rights of all Americans.”

In the statement, Abady said barriers to a recount in Pennsylvania are pervasive and the state court system is ill-equipped to address the problem.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has framed the campaign as an effort to explore whether voting machines and systems had been hacked and the election result manipulated. Stein’s lawyers, however, had offered no evidence of hacking in Pennsylvania’s election, and the state Republican Party and Trump had asked the court to dismiss the state court case.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-party-jill-stein-drops-pennsylvania-recount-bid/?google_editors_picks=true

[JonLP24]

1. Thanks for posting this

K&R

[Land Shark]

2. Misleading stuff earlier from CNN and NYT.

[turbinetree]

10. What else is new

Jeff Zucker is nothing but a siphon hose of deceit and deception, his "organization" gave more free air time and a close second and third was Faux Noise and then MSNBC and the Morning Joe gab fest to herr dumpster serial predator
The NYT (the so called liberal newspaper) has had more right wingers in the editorial pages, look no further than when one of there reporters which helped "out" a CIA operative by name of Valerie Plame, ever since then I have not given them much credence


If they were so concerned as to why a person on a federal ballot is asking for some answers, they should have joined in this recount------------------it's really simple

I get better information from Harper's Magazine. The Progressive, The Nation, American Prospect, and even from Rolling Stone, Democracy Now, Free Speech TV

[brooklynite]

18. The "misleading stuff" is due to the Green Party not announcing their plan until 11:30 PM.

[Land Shark]

22. Media jumped on it and didn't confirm their own spin. Nt

[Hekate]

3. KnR

[ucrdem]

4. Reuters: Stein to pursue Pennsylvania recount petition in federal court

Green Party candidate Jill Stein late Saturday vowed to bring her fight for a recount of votes cast in Pennsylvania in the U.S. presidential election to federal court, after a state judge ordered her campaign to post a $1 million bond.

{snip}

“The judge’s outrageous demand that voters pay such an exorbitant figure is a shameful, unacceptable barrier to democratic participation,” Stein said in a statement. "No voter in America should be forced to pay thousands of dollars to know if her or his vote was counted."

Stein said she planned to announce "the next step" in the recount effort on Monday at a previously scheduled news conference at Trump Tower in New York City.

She said recounts already under way in some Pennsylvania counties would continue. The state's election commission had approved recounts in 75 precincts where voters requested one, but refused to allow a full forensic audit of voting machines.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-recount-pennsylvania-idUSKBN13T00L

[inanna]

5. Recommend!

[cstanleytech]

6. I dont understand why the state would refuse the audit as it would help to reassure the voters

that nothing criminally was done by anyone with the machines that might have influenced the election unless of course something criminally was done and they dont want it exposed.

[ucrdem]

7. I'm guessing that an audit would reveal that many thousands of votes weren't counted.

I don't know how PA conducts its early voting but provisional voting requires paper ballots that need to be manually counted and that takes time. The easiest way to assure a GOP victory would be to simply ignore them. Ditto early votes if they're mailed in. When could they have counted all those ballots anyway? In the hours between 8pm and midnight on Nov. 8? California is still counting early and provisional ballots and it's been nearly a month!

[Achilleaze]

8. Bingo

Cheating (R) is afoot.

[BigBadDem]

11. There is no early voting in PA. Only absentee ballot which must be received BEFORE the election

date.

[Sunlei]

12. Do you know if Pa. trashcanned absentee ballots, when the voter was NOT absent on GE day?

you expect on Election Day to be absent from the Commonwealth or the municipality of residence during the entire period in which the polling places are open for voting

[BigBadDem]

14. Are you talking about double voting...someone voting via AB then showing up to a poll to vote?

?

if not, what are you referring to?

[Sunlei]

16. no, I remember one or two people voted twice, that is very easy to catch, the rolls are checked.

I meant the official rules for Pa. and for Texas clearly states a person can NOT absentee (or early vote in Tx.) vote if they are not absent from their home address on voting day.

[former9thward]

17. No one knocks on your door to see if you are there on election day.

If you say you expect to be absent then thats it.

[wordpix]

20. how would the state know you're sitting at home but voted absentee?

I considered it in order to avoid lines, but in the end went to the polling place.

[ucrdem]

23. possible PA absentee ballot problem:

Rodney, North Hampton County

IMPORTANT: I was canvassing by phone before the elections. One person I called reported something I thought was very suspicious that might be of help as you move forward: She was from Philadelphia but living in Brooklyn. She said that she received her absentee ballot AFTER the deadline for sending it in, but was told she should send it in anyway it would count. MORE IMPORTANTLY, the person she spoke with when she called for information said there was a HUGE problem with absentee ballots that were mailed late and received by the voter after the return date. I mentioned this when I went to a Democratic field office later in the day and said they should notify someone. You should definitely look at this if you have time. Philly has the population to easily offset the rest of the state if large numbers of absentee ballots arrived after the date for mailing and so weren't returned or perhaps not counted.

http://www.jill2016.com/rodney_north_hampton_county

[wordpix]

19. I suggested that she fight in court based on "exorbitant" bond cost - Jill is listening!

glad to see it. We need to help each other. Go, Jill!

Trust me, if she sees this through, she will up her stock price.

[KewlKat]

9. Thanks Jill and recounters for trying another strategy to get the cream in the pie.

[Equinox Moon]

13. Hey America! Election Audits are a good thing!

Thank you Jill for this good work!

[Sunlei]

15. I hope the Judge in the Pa. Federal court considers vote integrity more important than RW control.

a 1 million bond, just to be allowed to proceed is a very high RW wall tactic.

[wordpix]

21. the court will look at the "norm" for recount bond costs

and compare to $1 million. Should be that simple. However, RWnut decisions and legislation are not evidence-and-science-based, so hopefully the fed judge is.