Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein said early Sunday that she was moving forward with her recount efforts in the state of Pennsylvania after announcing the day before that she would drop it.
On Saturday, Stein cited a $1 million bond as the reason she would not move forward with the recount effort in the Keystone State. But shortly after midnight Sunday, Stein tweeted about plans to continue the recount bid, one that President-elect Donald Trump has called “a scam.”
“On Monday, I will escalate #Recount2016 in PA and file to demand a statewide recount on constitutional grounds. The people deserve answers,” she wrote.
CNN reports that Stein’s team followed up with a statement saying it will file a lawsuit in federal court Monday seeking a statewide recount.
“Over the past several days, it has become clear that the barriers to verifying the vote in Pennsylvania are so pervasive and that the state court system is so ill-equipped to address this problem that we must seek federal court intervention,” said Jonathan Abady, lead counsel for the Stein recount efforts. “As a result, on Monday the Stein campaign will escalate our campaign in Pennsylvania and file for emergency relief in federal court, demanding a statewide recount on constitutional grounds.”
The outlet reports that Stein campaign spokeswoman Jordan Brueckner later clarified Saturday that while petitioners withdrew their case for a statewide recount, recounts in hundreds of precincts in some Pennsylvania counties—including Philadelphia, Allegheny and Lehigh—will continue. The campaign is also still pushing for forensic audits of voting machine software in the state.
Stein tweeted that the cost is so astronomical because of antiquated voting mechanisms in the state: “#Recount2016 is so expensive because of elected leaders who have refused to invest in a 21st-century voting system.”
As previously reported by The Root, Stein has spearheaded a recount effort in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—three heretofore “blue” battleground states where Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton. She has raised nearly $7 million to fund the recount efforts after computer experts told the Clinton campaign that there were possible hacks in those states.
Clinton’s campaign has sent its lawyers to participate in the recount process to “ensure that it is fair to all sides,” reports CNN.
Read more at CNN.