Trump Officially Wins Michigan As Possible Recount Looms

Elections officials in all three states have expressed confidence in the results.

Thomas, the elections chief, said the recount probably will end but “that’s a legal issue”. The recount will have to move quickly. How might the electoral college numbers shift if the votes were to shift in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin or any other combination of the three? The last one in a candidate race was 1950, when Democrat G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams beat Republican Harry Kelly by 1,154 votes.

All voting equipment in Wisconsin has been approved by the Wisconsin Election Commission (or one of its predecessors), Kevin Kennedy, Wisconsin’s former elections director, told us.

And professor Philip Stark of the University of California at Berkeley noted (pdf) that Wisconsin should not rule out simple software problems with the ballot scanning machines. He didn’t expect much change in the results. “But it’s the voters who benefit by standing up and saying we deserve a voting system that is secure in which we know our votes are being counted and our votes are being respected”.

Many have questioned why Stein would be so concerned with a recount, given that a change in vote would not be almost large enough to affect her outcome.

A Wisconsin judge refused on Tuesday to order local election workers to conduct the state’s upcoming presidential recount completely by hand, finding that nothing suggests the state’s electronic tabulating machines have been hacked.

More than $6.5 million (€6.1 million) for the recount effort has been raised online in a crowdfunding effort led by Ms Stein.

“The recount effort is non-partisan and Stein is not coordinating with any other campaign”, said David Cobb, campaign manager for the Stein recount effort.

State Elections Director Chris Thomas estimated that the full recount could be finished by December 9 or 10, assuming there are no legal objections from other candidates or campaigns.

Ms Stein’s attorneys said they would decide on Wednesday whether to appeal against The Judge’s decision.

Michigan Republican chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel says a recount would be a waste of time and money.

The Board of State Canvassers will meet Friday to hear arguments. Stein’s team said it plans to demand a statewide hand-recount on Wednesday, in accordance with the 48-hour deadline to do so. Election officials said earlier Tuesday they had underestimated the cost and the recount may wind up costing closer to $3.9 million.

“This will cost our taxpayers. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and MI, we will take the same approach in those states as well”.

Stein continues to allege that voting machines nationwide were hacked by a foreign government, despite not being able to provide proof that any district was affected by hacks, or malfunctioning voting machines. But counties where Green Party-backed voters have sought a recount are refusing to do such forensic examinations.