Pennsylvania State Department says Stein missed recount deadline
By Philip Wegmann • 11/28/16 3:29 PM
Philip Wegmann Commentary Blogger The Washington Examiner
Jill Stein has everything she needs to launch a presidential recount. She's got the cash, the grassroots fervor and the spotlight of an adoring media. But there's one thing she needs to overturn Trump's victory: a calendar.
Stein missed Pennsylvania's deadline to file for a voter-initiated recount. That blown deadline is a huge blow for Democrats who have pinned their hopes on recounts in the Keystone State, Michigan and Wisconsin.
"According to Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday, "the deadline for a voter-initiated recount was Monday, Nov. 21."
Allied with Clinton's camp, Stein can still mount a legal challenge. While the chances of litigation are uncertain, the vote tally is clear. Trump beat Clinton in Pennsylvania, a feat not accomplished by a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1988.
While it wasn't a landslide, it wasn't close either. Trump carried the state by 70,000 votes, a significant margin that will be hard to overcome.
And even if Stein manages a recount in Pennsylvania, nothing's guaranteed. Of the thousands of statewide races in the last 15 years, only 27 have been decided by recounts and only three challengers have pulled off an upset.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. |
