As vote totals shift, Hillary Clinton climbs to within 0.8% in Pennsylvania ahead of recount
The story out of Pennsylvania the day after the 2016 election was that Donald Trump had won the state in a shocking upset by a mere 70,638 votes. Those totals, which were supposedly final and came directly from the Pennsylvania precincts themselves, were widely reporting – including in this USA Today article. But after major voluntary revisions by various precincts, Trump’s already tiny lead has now shrunk considerably – and this is all before the impending state recount.
The stunning news came when the respected Decision Desk HQ posted revised statewide vote totals revealing that Donald Trump’s lead in the state had plummeted to just 46,948 votes, which was subsequently revised to 47,603 votes after even more precincts began changing their official vote totals.
This suddenly puts Hillary Clinton within around 0.8% of catching up to Trump and taking the state from him. The major shift has prompted Philadelphia to conduct a voluntary recount, which took place on Friday, and whose results have not yet been made public. But regardless of how the Philadelphia recount turns out, the rapidly shrinking numbers provide additional fuel to Jill Stein’s ongoing legal battle to force a statewide recount in Pennsylvania. In fact if the Philadelphia recount and/or other revisions push Clinton to within 0.5% of Trump, then under Pennsylvania state law a statewide recount will automatically become mandatory.
