Jill Stein files for recount in MI

Attorneys for Trump have not said whether they would choose to file an appeal, but during the State Board of Canvassers meeting argued a machine recount would be faster than a hand recount, which is what the Stein campaign asked for and how Secretary of State officials now plan to proceed.

All three states rejected Trump’s claim, and the White House on Monday said there had been no evidence of widespread election fraud in the presidential contest. State officials plan to charge Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein nearly $1 million to conduct the recount. But Stein alleges that irregularities and the possibility that vote scanning devices could have been hacked call the results into question. “It is to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the vote”. Under state policy, the recount will be conducted by hand.

Trump’s victory is highly unlikely to be reversed in any of the states.

Clinton lost to Trump by about 22,000 votes in Wisconsin, or less than a percentage point.

For Michigan, Stein would have to pay $787,500 for a recount. Politico reported that it could cost $500,000 to complete a recount in Pennsylvania if the court order goes through. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for December 9.

If states miss the deadline, Congress would allot their electoral votes.

On Friday (25 November), Stein filed a recount request in Wisconsin after crowdfunding the necessary fee money.

Fitrakis also urged observers to object when they think they see something done incorrectly and then contact the Green Party recount headquarters being set up in Madison. “It will be a costly and massive undertaking, for no good reason, if the recount is requested”.

The complaint contends that Clinton is the only person who could benefit from a recount and that she illegally helped Stein raise money for the recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and MI.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

► Related: Michigan presidential recount?

Stein is also suing to force all Wisconsin counties to do a hand recount of ballots after that state refused her request, stating that it would be left up to the individual counties to decide whether or not to do a hand recount.

Elections officials in the three states have expressed confidence in their results. Stein received 51,463 votes or about 1.1 percent.

County election officials hired temporary workers, expanded hours and dusted off recount manuals to prepare for the work of re-tabulating almost three million ballots.

The same board officially announced that Donald Trump had won the state’s 16 electoral college votes – by 10,704 votes – on Monday after the result had been too close to call for nearly three weeks. And Johnson suggested the cost could top $1.8 million.