Green Party nominee Jill Stein says her effort to force presidential election recounts in three states is not for personal benefit.
“This is not about advancing one candidate or hurting another candidate,” she told host Thomas Roberts on MSNBC Monday.
{mosads}“This is also not about advancing my own career,” Stein added. “My campaign is not going to win here, although we might get a more accurate recount of Green votes.
“It’s about the American people who emerged from this election not as happy campers. Eighty percent of Americans, according to a New York Times poll, were disgusted by the conduct of the election.”
Stein also disputed critics who say she is wasting money or personally profiting off fundraising for recount efforts.
“We’re very clear about what is being funded,” she said. “You can actually see the whole budget for it on our fundraising page.
“Voters have voted with their pocketbooks here. An average $45 donation, almost 140,000 donors, have stood up and said, ‘We deserve an election system we have confidence in.’”
Stein added her recount pushes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are about preserving the integrity of the presidential election nationwide.
“This is an election where there has been hacking and allegation of tampering all over the place. The nature of hacking is, you don’t see it if you don’t look. Hear no evil, see no evil and there is no evil.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission announced last Friday it would undertake a recount following two separate requests from Stein and Reform Party nominee Rocky De La Fuente.
An attorney for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign said they would participate in any recounts even though they doubt it will have an effect.
Stein filed for a recount in Pennsylvania Monday and is pushing for a similar outcome in Michigan before a Wednesday deadline.
President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday blasted the recount movement, saying “nothing would change” after a waste of money and time.