Election Integrity depends on YOU!
Urgent! Help Win This Historic Fight for Voting Justice!!
Friends,
An epic battle is underway for a voting system we can trust - that is accurate, secure and just! #Recount2016 is charging ahead.
Thanks to over 10,000 volunteers and 150,000 small donors, the recount has been pushing forward in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - defying political blockades, bureaucratic hurdles, and financial intimidation.
With small donations from folks like you, we have already raised an incredible $7.2 million dollars for this extraordinary effort.
But we need your help for the final stretch. We have to raise an additional $2.3 million dollars - a total of $9.5 million - to have enough firepower to prevail.
We are fighting multiple legal battles against Trump and his cronies in all three states:
- In Pennsylvania, we are going to federal court to fight for a statewide recount on constitutional grounds, in the face of an outrageous $1.1 million bond that was imposed on the voters filing for a statewide recount. We are seeking an injunction for a hand recount and forensic analysis of the unaccountable, paperless touch-screen machines.
All concerned voters are invited to attend a hearing in Philadelphia Federal Court Friday, December 9 at 1:30pm.
- In Wisconsin, we are fighting for a hand count of paper ballots throughout the state - what a judge called the “gold standard” for verifying the vote - after Republican Governor Scott Walker’s henchmen on the Board of Elections tripled the cost of the recount, charging $2.4 million over the original estimate of $1.1 million (based on the last statewide recount).
Read the latest updates on the Wisconsin Recount.
Read reports submitted by Wisconsin Recount observers.
- In Michigan, we are fighting Trump and Schuette tooth and nail to make sure the hard-fought, hard-won right to vote is honored, and that the voices of the people in communities of color are heard and respected.
Read our response to Wednesday's Federal Court ruling ending the Michigan recount.
Attend Thursday's Emergency Rally in Lansing protesting Republican's stopping the recount.
Read reports submitted by Michigan Recount observers.
We have great victories to build on in this David-and-Goliath battle for the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans. But the costs - for state filing fees, legal fees, operations, staff, and to keep the public informed - are rising fast, as Trump and his allies wage “lawfare” against our fight for democracy. Click here for a breakdown of our current budget, and help us continue the fight for voters’ rights today!
In a dramatic midnight ruling issued Monday, federal judge Mark Goldsmith overrode the delays caused by frivolous lawsuits of Trump and his ally, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, granted our request to begin the recount in Michigan, saying:
“The fundamental right invoked by [the recount] — the right to vote, and to have that vote conducted fairly and counted accurately — is the bedrock of our Nation.”
We also scored a huge court victory Tuesday when the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this same court order.
We’re gaining momentum in the courts, but we can only keep the work going with your support. Please click here to donate to #Recount2016 today to get us over the final hurdle!
This recount is not just about counting the votes. We are fighting Trump and the Michigan GOP in a battle that goes to the very heart of the struggle for voting rights in communities of color. Donate now to stand up for election justice and integrity.
The attention brought by the recount campaign in Michigan is already raising red flags for the widespread disenfranchisement of voters of color in what amounts to a modern Jim Crow-type election system.
At stake are over 75,000 “undervotes” - ballots that are filled out except the vote for President - many of which are concentrated in communities of color in the Detroit area.
This unprecedented number of blank ballots may actually represent errors in the optical scanners that count the votes. According to a U.S. Civil Rights Commission report, voters of color are 900% more likely to have their votes misread or simply tossed out by human error or by badly maintained and poorly calibrated machines in underserved communities.
The malfunction of 87 decade-old optical scanner machines in Detroit on Election Day is an example of this Jim Crow-type injustice. These machine errors that lead to voter suppression are commonplace in underserved communities of color. But they can only be identified if we recount all the votes!
Trump and his pal Bill Schuette are doing everything in their power to prevent the recount from going forward, and examining the potential voter suppression.
If you want to help protect the right to vote for communities of color—and build the case for a stronger democracy, please pitch in to keep this fight going!
We must not back down from this fight. Donald Trump - and the entrenched, corrupt political establishment that backs him - is hell-bent on shutting down our fight for voting justice, making it as complicated and expensive as possible by using every legal trick in the book to try to stop us.
The recount is a critical first step towards real democracy. We must also end voter suppression through voter ID laws and Interstate Crosscheck. We must have open debates to fully inform and empower voters. We must liberate our votes from fear through Ranked Choice Voting, which allows you to rank your choices and if your first choice loses, your vote is automatically reassigned to your second choice. We must abolish the Electoral College and move to a national popular vote.
With your help we can seize this historic moment to create a voting system we can trust, starting with counting every vote and making every vote count.
Sources:
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“Federal Court Ruling Protects Jill Stein’s Michigan Recount, Despite State Decision,” Huffington Post, December 6, 2016
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“Judge Orders Michigan Presidential Recount to Begin at Noon Monday,” Detroit News, December 5, 2016
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“Huge Federal Court Victory in MI - Recount Goes Forward,” Stein Campaign Press Release, December 6, 2016
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“Explaining the Michigan Recount of Vote,” Oakland Press, December 1, 2016
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“Ethnic Votes Stolen in Crucial States Help Fix US Election for Trump,” Greg Palast, November 16, 2016
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“Broken Machines Could Throw Michigan Recount Into Chaos,” The Guardian, December 6, 2016
- “In Michigan: Trump, GOP Politicians Launch Full-Scale Attack to Obstruct Voters’ Civil, Constitutional Rights,” Stein Campaign Press Release, December 6, 2016
- “Stein/Baraka Condemn Interstate Crosscheck And Other Voter Suppression Schemes,” Stein/Baraka Campaign Press Release, October 3, 2016
Details You Need to Know
The Green Party Platform calls for "publicly-owned, open source voting equipment and deploy it across the nation to ensure high national standards, performance, transparency and accountability; use verifiable paper ballots; and institute mandatory automatic random precinct recounts to ensure a high level of accuracy in election results."
Election integrity experts have independently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where "statistical anomalies" raised concerns. Our effort to recount votes in those states is not intended to help Hillary Clinton.
These recounts are part of an election integrity movement to attempt to shine a light on just how untrustworthy the U.S. election system is.
If we raise more than what's needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform. This is what we did with our surplus in 2004.
Here are the estimated expenses for the recount campaign:
Legal fees: over $1.5 million so far and rising, could go up to $3 million
You can donate up to $2,700 on this page.
*We are supporting a voter-initiated recount in PA, in election districts where at least three voters in each precinct file affidavits with their County Board of Elections within the specified time frame.
Find answers to frequently asked questions.
