New Twist In Green Party's Election Recount Efforts In Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Green Party's presidential nominee Jill Stein is switching gears in her legal fight to get a recount in Pennsylvania. Her campaign is axing efforts in the state courts and instead wants to make its case at the federal level.
Stein's campaign says they'll fight for a statewide recount in federal court and dropping a push in state courts because of the million dollar cost to petitioners.
The Green Party nominee, on Fox News Sunday, says she's not acting on Hillary Clinton's behalf, but for Americans who want an election system they trust.
"[A system] that is accurate, that is secure against hacking, against human error, against machine error and that in which the votes are being counted," Stein said. "This is about responding to American voters who are standing up and saying we need an election system that we can trust."
Drexel political science professor Bill Rosenberg says hacking is unlikely because voting machines aren't online. As for recounting votes, he says it's tough with most machines not providing paper records in Pennsylvania.
"As a result you can't really go back in many cases and look, like they did in Florida with hanging chads."
What happens next? Rosenberg is reminded of the 2000 election drama. A replay of that, he says is possible, but not likely.
"Politicians and political officials probably don't want this to play out for a long time," he said. "Because the longer it plays out, the more it questions sort of the legitimacy and sort of process of the election."
