Jill Stein, the US Green party's presidential candidate, is prepared to request recounts of the election result in several key battleground states, her campaign said on Wednesday.
Stein launched an online fundraising page seeking donations toward a multimillion-dollar fund she said was needed to request reviews of the results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Before midnight EST on Wednesday, the drive had already raised more than the $2 million necessary to file for a recount in Wisconsin, where the deadline to challenge is on Friday.
Stein said she was acting due to “compelling evidence of voting anomalies” and that data analysis had indicated “significant discrepancies in vote totals” that were released by state authorities.
“These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified,” she said in a statement.
“We deserve elections we can trust.”
The fundraising page said it expected to need around $6m-7m to challenge the results in all three states.
Foreign hackers
Stein’s move came amid growing calls for recounts or audits of the election results by groups of academics and activists concerned that foreign hackers may have interfered with election systems.
The concerned groups have been urging Hillary Clinton, the defeated Democratic nominee, to join their cause.
Donald Trump won unexpected and narrow victories against Clinton in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin earlier this month and may yet win Michigan, where a final result has not yet been declared.
Stein and her campaign made clear they were acting because they wanted to ensure the election results were authentic, rather than because they thought she had actually won any of the contests.
Several states allow any candidate who was on the ballot to request a recount.
She and those seeking recounts will need to move swiftly. This Friday is the deadline for requesting a recount in Wisconsin, where Trump’s winning margin stands at 0.7 per cent.
In Pennsylvania, where his margin is 1.2 per cent, the deadline falls on Monday. In Michigan, where the Trump lead is currently just 0.3 per cent, the deadline is Wednesday 30th November.
Guardian