QUESTION: Hi Marty, there is something circulated around that if the three states being hand recounted by Stein are not counted by Nov. 13th that the electoral votes from those states will be void and thrown out and giving the win to Hillary. How plausible is this?
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ANSWER: That seems to be populated by Edward Foley, an expert in election law at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. That is very misleading. Yes the absolute deadline is Dec. 19th, 2016 when electors around the country must meet to cast their Electoral College votes. However, whatever the vote is on the 13th stands. Foley said: “That is a hard deadline and if a state were to miss that deadline, it would be technically in jeopardy of not having its electoral votes counted.” The likelihood of that would be below ZERO. A recount would by no means prevent that vote on the 19th. In fact, if the recount were not completed in time, then the people’s vote stands. Therefore, if the recount is not finished by the 13th, then the electors must vote accordingly.
If a state failed to vote by December 19th, you would really have a Constitutional Crisis that would compel the Supreme Court to enter. The people of that state would have just cause for bringing an action against the state officials and that could even be criminal. Moreover, the GOP would not allow that and stand ready to go to court.
The Green Party candidate Jill Stein has filed suit after Wisconsin declined to require county officials to recount the votes by hand, which is pointless especially when Pennsylvania is all electronic. What is she really doing? Her lawsuit could delay the process and she gets to keep all the money. Under state law, the recount must begin this week as long as Stein or another candidate pays the $3.5 million estimated cost of the recount by Tuesday. Meanwhile, Stein filed a lawsuit yesterday in Pennsylvania to force a recount there and her supporters began filing recount requests at the precinct level in Pennsylvania. She also plans to ask for a recount in Michigan on Wednesday.
By filing these suits, she must show clear and convincing evidence that the vote could change and there was some fraud. That really does not exit. She gets to keep all the money if she pretends to demand recounts but fails to get them. This appears to be a scam and without overturning all three states, nothing changes. Further proof that Stein is a con-artist is that even Obama has come out and said: “We Stand Behind Our Election Results.” This is the most dishonest scheme and on par with the corruption in politics. She only raised $3.5 million for her own election.
Stein is exploiting the nation for personal gain. Filing these lawsuits may actually prevent a recount, and then she can keep all the money and say she made a best effort as her site guarantees. This is really a total fraud and borders on criminal activity especially under consumer laws. She should be forced to return all money or go to jail. There is no evidence of such a fraud to warrant a recount and even Obama says there is no question about the vote.
