Jill Stein and her crew have dropped the court proceeding by which they were seeking to force a statewide recount in Pennsylvania. Trump’s victory in the Keystone State stands. Thus, even if a recount were somehow to overturn the results in Wisconsin and Michigan, Trump would still prevail.
There were no grounds for an automatic recount in Pennsylvania because Trump won by 0.8 percent. An automatic recount isn’t triggered unless the margin is 0.5 percent or less.
Absent an automatic recount, Stein and company had to proceed in court. However, the Pennsylvania court required a $1 million bond. In moving to dismiss the court case, Team Stein stated that it couldn’t raise the $1 million.
Had there been any realistic hope of success in court, who can doubt that Stein would have come up with the money? But the court case was futile.
Stein had said the purpose of Pennsylvania’s recount was to ensure “our votes are safe and secure,” considering the efforts of hackers in other states and the hacking of emails of the Democratic National Committee and several Clinton staffers. However, Stein’s lawyers were unable present any evidence of hacking in Pennsylvania’s election. And they had been unsuccessful in efforts to get various counties to allow a forensic examination of their election system software.
To make matters worse for Stein, her lawyers acknowledged that there is no precedent for a court ordered recount in Pennsylvania.
The futility of a recount was also driven home by what’s happened in Wisconsin. Ed Morrissey notes that, with one-third of precincts having completed their recount, Trump has extended his lead over Clinton by 12 votes.
Trump’s margin in Wisconsin is around 27,000 votes. In Pennsylvania, it’s around 50,000 (down from around 70,000 now that the count is virtually complete).
With the Pennsylvania challenge dead, it’s time to enjoy a little Roy Orbison:
And this from the 1966 World Cup final:
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