Just as president-elect Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan had surmised, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s efforts to gain a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were a scam.
Trump called Stein’s actions a “scam,” while Speaker of the House Paul Ryan termed them a “ridiculous fundraising and publicity stunt.”
Sure enough, according to The Washington Free Beacon, Stein will receive $2 million in refunds after initial estimates overestimated the final costs of the failed presidential recount. Stein said on Tuesday that any remaining money from her efforts would be channeled to a group called Count My Vote, which would review the Wisconsin recount before it released a report.
According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Stein said, “When we asked for a full recount we only got a hand recount in about half of the precincts for about half of the voters. So essentially what we got was half a recount. We also want to include in this ensuring we have a right to vote and that we put an end to voter ID laws to this interstate cross check that have taken millions of voters potentially off rolls, also ranked choice voting.
Stein raised $7.3 million for her presidential campaign, spending roughly $600,000 for consultants and staff working on the recount. The recount in Wisconsin found 131 more votes for Donald Trump, while the recount efforts in Pennsylvania and Michigan were blocked by federal courts.
Wisconsin had estimated that the recount would cost $3.5 million, but the final cost for 70 of the 72 counties in the state was $1.8 million. A spokesman for the Wisconsin Elections Commission said finishing the recount could raise the total to $2 million, thus Stein would be reimbursed $1.5 million.
A spokesperson for Michigan’s Department of State confirmed that Stein paid in full for 3,050 of the state’s 7,786 precincts before the courts halted the recount; but Stein will receive a refund for the remaining 4,736 precincts totaling $592,000.