BF: It all happened very quickly. The biggest obstacle was that the Wisconsin deadline was on Friday November 25, and it was Wednesday, November 23 and there was no funding for it. And it was the day before Thanksgiving. The fee in Wisconsin, just for the recount, is estimated to be $1.1 million. Wisconsin requires that you pay every public employee's salary for the time spent on the recount. There are over 1700 registrars, each with employees, plus the legal fees for the paid litigation firm could easily run more than $1 million for Wisconsin alone.
The Stein campaign put up a website on Wednesday for donations, and couldn't take more than $2700 per donor. The Federal Elections Commission requires that a recount effort must create a separate fund and account for all the donations and expenditures. The funds cannot go into the Green Party for political activity, it must be spent on the recount.
So, when I see people on the internet suggesting that Jill did it to get rich or to fund the Green Party, people need to know that the money can only be spent on the recount.
So far the estimated amount of funding needed for the three states is between $6-7 million. Wisconsin and Michigan appear to be covered, with the fund-raising earning over $5 million as we speak. And I suspect Pennsylvania's costs will be covered over the next couple of days. It's possible that the actual cost could go over $7 million depending on how contentious and litigious the recount becomes.
JB: Thanks for answering those internet rumors. That's an amazing outburst of support for the recount, especially in such a short time, and with Thanksgiving smack in the middle. Were you surprised at the quick progress? What do you think it means?
BF: Surprised? We were stunned. We were looking at all other possibilities, like borrowing money, before we saw the great response. The best part about it is that is came mainly from small donors. Donors' names will be public record.
It was an election with the two most disfavored nominees ever recorded, with one the candidates constantly raising the issue of "rigged" elections. And it was clear that media commentators and pollsters were expecting a different result. So, I think the Green Party has provided a unique opportunity to recount and verify the actual vote. Let's all hope it's done in a nonpartisan manner that establishes the actual vote count and clears up any questions about the outcome of the election. Although we still have the problem of non-transparency and a system where a candidate can win by more than 2 million popular votes and still lose the election in the electoral college.
I hope that people understand and learn from this recount that our system is fundamentally flawed and that we should demand that there be no place in a democratic system for secret proprietary software in our voting process.
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