As Hillary's Lead Grows, Jill Stein Raises Money for Recount

As of Thursday, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised over $3,500,000 for election recounts in three key states that cost Hillary Clinton the presidency: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

"After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many American to wonder if our election results are reliable," Stein said in a statement released Wednesday. "These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust."

Stein met a $2.5 million deadline on Wednesday and is looking for $4.5 million by Friday at 4 p.m. Central, the deadline to challenge Wisconsin's election results (Michigan and Pennsylvania deadlines come a few days later). Stein argues there are irregularities with machine-counted vote tallies and mentions in her statement that voting machines used in Wisconsin had been banned in California because they were susceptible to hacking. The Democratic National Committee's emails were hacked earlier this year -- allegedly by people affiliated with the Russian government -- as well as those of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

Academics have also said a recount is necessary, though out pollster Nate Silver disputes that there were any discrepancies in the three aformentioned states.

The Clinton campaign has remained mum about any potential recount or election audit; Hillary Clinton herself urged unity after the surprising results of two weeks ago. But since Clinton made her concession speech November 9, her lead in the popular vote has ballooned; she's now ahead of Donald Trump by over 2 million votes. Trump won the election by doing well in the Electoral College, sweeping the South and notching shocking wins in the three states Stein wants recounted.