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Green Party: Stein To File Recount Request In Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will request a recount of election results in Wisconsin on Friday, a local party official said.

President-elect Donald Trump narrowly won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and has a small lead in Michigan. Stein has said she plans to request recounts in the three states — all reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections — to see whether hacking may have taken place, though there's no evidence voter results were hacked or electronic voting machines were compromised.

"There's no smoking gun here, but we're saying the American public needs to have it investigated to make sure our votes count," said George Martin, a member of the Wisconsin Green Party's coordinating council. "We're doing this to ensure the integrity of our system."

Jill Stein
Jill Stein (credit: CBS)

Martin said Stein's campaign will file a recount request with the Wisconsin Elections Commission in Madison by the 5 p.m. deadline Friday.

Wisconsin has never conducted a presidential recount. Under state law, candidates can request a recount if they can present a basis for one and cover the cost. Stein's campaign estimates the Wisconsin recount will cost about $1.1 million.

Stein has been raising money through online appeals since Tuesday to cover the costs of recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. As of Friday morning, she had raised $4.8 million.

Wisconsin officials already announced an audit of the state vote. Wisconsin is less vulnerable to cyberattacks because it uses electronic machines with voter-verifiable paper trails in most counties.

During a news conference in Milwaukee, Marin said Stein's campaign would also ask for a "reconciliation" of voting records that would go beyond an audit. He didn't provide details.

Unofficial results compiled by the Wisconsin Elections Commission show Trump with 1,404,000 votes, Hillary Clinton with 1,381,823 votes and Stein with 31,000 votes.

Ross Hein, elections supervisor for the state commission, sent a memo to county clerks on Wednesday telling them to expect a recount. He said the process could be frustrating after a labor-intensive election season but Stein is entitled to a recount under state law.

The deadline for requesting a recount in Pennsylvania is Monday, while Michigan's is Wednesday.

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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