Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein plans to take her fight for a vote recount in Pennsylvania to federal court, Stein announced late Saturday, after a state judge ordered her campaign post a $1 million bond.
“No voter in America should be forced to pay thousands of dollars to know if her or his vote was counted.”
—Jill Stein
“The bond was set by the Commonwealth court of Pennsylvania a day after representatives of President-elect Donald Trump requested a $10m bond, according to court papers,” reports the Guardian. “The court gave the petitioners until 5pm local time on Monday to post the bond, but said it could modify the amount if shown good cause. Instead, Stein’s campaign withdrew.”
“Petitioners are regular citizens of ordinary means,” wrote attorney Lawrence Otter in a statement to the court. “They cannot afford to post the $1,000,000 bond required by the court.”
The Trump campaign also attempted this week to block the vote recount in Michigan, as Common Dreams reported.
Stein later vowed to escalate the battle to federal court.
“The judge’s outrageous demand that voters pay such an exorbitant figure is a shameful, unacceptable barrier to democratic participation. No voter in America should be forced to pay thousands of dollars to know if her or his vote was counted,” Stein said in a statement.
The candidate voiced further frustration with the process on Twitter:
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