US Judge Rejects Green Party's PA Recount Case, State Certifies Election Results
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--The Green Party-backed push for a recount in Pennsylvania has been abruptly halted by a federal court judge in Philadelphia, who ruled their suspicion of a "hacked election borders on the irrational".
Judge Paul Diamond wrote in his ruling that lawyers for presidential candidate Jill Stein presented "no credible evidence."
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He says the Commonwealth presented "compelling evidence" there was no tampering. The judge said he had to balance the speculation over the potential that voting machines were hacked or votes miscounted against "the real risk that a 12th hour recount order would disenfranchise the six-million Pennsylvanian's who voted."
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"Publicity is all they got out of this," said Attorney Lawrence Tabas who represents President-Elect Trump and the Republican Party.
Tabas believes that Stein's end game was to "create chaos, disrupt and delay the Electoral College in Pennsylvania."
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"Stein got less than one percent of the vote. There was absolutely no chance that the outcome was going to change in her favor," Tabas said. At this point, Stein's lawyers will say only that they are "exploring" their options.
On Monday afternoon, the Pennsylvania Department of State certified the presidential election results for the state. Governor Tom Wolf signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the electors for Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
The state released the following vote totals in the race for president:
Republican Party (Trump/Pence): 2,970,733
Democratic Party (Clinton/Kaine): 2,926,441
Libertarian Party (Johnson/Weld): 146,715
Green Party (Stein/Baraka): 49,941
Constitution Party (Castle/Bradley): 21,572
