Green Party drops bid for statewide Pennsylvania recount

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Green Party is dropping its court case seeking a statewide recount of Pennsylvania's Nov. 8 presidential election. It had wanted to explore whether voting machines and systems had been hacked and the election result manipulated.

The decision came Saturday, two days before a court hearing in the case. Lawyers for the Green Party-backed voters who filed the case say they can't afford the $1 million bond ordered by the court by 5 p.m. Monday. However, Green Party-backed efforts to analyze election software in scattered precincts are continuing.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has spearheaded a recount effort in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states where Republican Donald Trump won narrowly over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump and the Pennsylvania GOP had opposed the recount.