Nearly three weeks after the official declaration that Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States of America, the Election Commission of Wisconsin has taken up statewide recount of votes on a petition by Jill Stein, candidate of the Green Party who ended up with less than one per cent of the popular vote.

She is seeking recount of votes in Michigan and Pennsylvania states also and has raised $ 5.9 million in just 24 hours; her target is $ 7 million. In America, the candidate seeking recount should bear the cost. The Green Party could raise only $ 3 million for Stein’s campaign spread over several months. No prizes for guessing who helped Stein raise $ 5.9 million for the recount programme.

 Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote by almost two million but lost in the Electoral College, cannot seek recount because in the presidential debate she committed herself to abide by the result and taunted Donald Trump for his unwillingness to pledge that he would accept the outcome of the election. The three impugned states account for 46 Electoral College votes: Wisconsin 10, Michigan 16 and Pennsylvania 20.

Unless she wins all the three states, the outcome will remain the same. Trump won 30 states and garnered 306 EC votes against 232 EC votes secured by Clinton. Michigan used ballot paper for the polls leaving no scope for hacking or manipulating. Reversal of a declared presidential election result by recount has never happened in the 240-year electoral history of America, but there have been a few instances of candidates winning popular votes and losing in the Electoral College. Though Clinton conceded defeat and congratulated Trump for his victory on 9 November, an intensive, behind-the-scenes effort by her campaign looking for signs of Russian hacking activity or other irregularities in the vote was going on ever since.

A New York magazine reported last Tuesday that a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers had informed the Clinton campaign that a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania was warranted because their analysis detected a pattern indicating electronic voting machines could have been manipulated or hacked. According to the group’s findings, Clinton received seven per cent fewer votes in counties that used electronic voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Their statistical analysis indicated Clinton might have been denied 30,000 votes on account of this.

She lost Wisconsin to Trump by a margin of 22,177 votes. The group, however, has not found any proof of hacking or manipulation. Marc Elias, the Clinton campaign’s general counsel, said it will take part in the Wisconsin recount being set off by Stein who claimed her effort was not to help Clinton win!