Pennsylvania presidential recount showdown set for Monday

A hearing is set for Monday in Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s challenge to Pennsylvania’s presidential vote, won by Donald Trump.

The Stein campaign says it’s filed for recounts in 260 individual precincts across the state.

Campaign attorney Lawrence Otters said his hope is that those recounts will show discrepancies in vote tallies, bolstering the case for a statewide review.

The Monday hearing in Harrisburg will hear the campaign’s official contest of the presidential result.

The campaign’s filing says Pennsylvania’s voting machines and tabulating equipment could have been hacked in the election, and only a forensic exam by computer experts will tell for certain.

State Republican Party General Counsel Lawrence Tabas  said in an interview the Stein challenge presents no evidence of tampering, and falls far short of the legal standard for an election contest.

“To call this a hail-mary pass is to would be to insult the term hail-mary pass,” Tabas said. “It is a fantasy.”

Otter and a team of four other Republican lawyers will oppose the Stein motion in court filings Friday and at Monday’s hearing.

The case should proceed quickly. The state’s presidential electors are scheduled to meet and cast their votes December 19th.