Nevada Recount: The Recount No One Talked About Is Finally Complete, Three Voices Heard
While the mainstream media was jumping on coverage of Jill Stein’s “Recount 2016” efforts in the Trump-held states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, another recount was silently completed with little fanfare in a Clinton-majority state. Third-party candidate Rocky De La Fuente initiated a recount in Nevada without the publicity of a massive fundraising effort in key blue counties of Nevada noting that the efforts were a bid to “counterbalance” the Stein funded efforts in the Rust Belt.
ABC News reports that Rocky De La Fuente paid roughly $14,000 to initiate a partial recount in the blue state of Nevada. Hillary Clinton won the state by just 27,202 votes, a margin similar to Jill Stein’s recount efforts in key Trump states. Stein demanded recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, Trump leads Clinton by 44,000 votes. Therefore, De La Fuente said he wanted to “counterbalance” those initiatives by initiating a recount in a blue state with similar voting results.
The Heavy notes that the recount was performed in 92 of the Nevada precincts, all but eight of which were located in the Las Vegas area. The recount was completed without much controversy and the results finalized on Thursday. With the recounts were complete, De La Fuente’s numbers remained exactly the same, with Clinton losing 9 votes and Trump losing 6 votes shrinking the President-elect Trump’s defeat by just three votes.
Slight change in vote totals in NV recount (on mail/absentee votes that couldn’t be read by optical scanner). BTW, Clinton still won.
— Steve Sebelius (@SteveSebelius) December 9, 2016
Sadly, candidate/recount financier Rocky De La Fuente spent more than $14,000 to find out he neither gained nor lost a single vote.
— Steve Sebelius (@SteveSebelius) December 9, 2016
Meanwhile, recount efforts for the Stein camp are not looking any better. A federal judge has ruled that the Michigan recount must be halted as there was no evidence provided by Jill Stein that fraud had taken place. Instead, the judge noted that the recount was being used as an “audit,” which is not covered under the law.
While Wisconsin is continuing a full recount, the results do not appear to be changing. ABC News notes that 70 percent of the votes have been recounted and Hillary Clinton has only gained 82 votes.
“The recount is more than 70 percent complete in Wisconsin, and Clinton has gained just 82 votes on Trump, who won the state by more than 22,000 votes.”
In Pennsylvania, Trump leads by over 44,000 votes, noting only 15 provisional ballots remain to be counted and confirmed. A Pennsylvania recount has not been entirely ruled out. However, the Trump campaign notes that if a recount is ordered this late in the season, it could prevent the state from certifying its results by the federal December 13 deadline. It was also noted that Jill Stein has not been able to provide any evidence of purported hacking or fraud, which would be required for the recount to take place.
Despite all of the recounts, the election results are expected to stand with Donald Trump earning 309 electoral votes and the presidency. Going into the recounts, Green Party leader Jill Stein noted that she did not expect the results to change and was not demanding the recounts to help Clinton. Instead, she noted that she was hoping for more voter transparency and accountability by election boards.
Do you think the recounts were a waste of money or should more voting audits take place? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by John Locher/AP Images]
