Michigan high court denies vote recount appeal

Lou Novak, a Green Party member from Detroit, said the recount has already exposed several issues with Michigan’s election system, referencing the number of precincts that have been determined unrecountable under state law due to irregularities and error.

Ottawa County’s incomplete results gave 53 more votes to President-elect Donald Trump, 11 to Democrat Hillary Clinton, and nine to Stein, as well as small additions to the other candidates.

The recount of Wisconsin’s presidential election vote is almost finished.

Voter officials in Pennsylvania tried to derail Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s vote recount efforts for the presidential election in the Keystone State Thursday.

A federal judge in Wisconsin dismissed a request by a Trump supporting super PACs to the stop the recount in Wisconsin.

The PACs’ attorneys argued in court Friday that the recount could jeopardize Wisconsin’s ability to meet a December 13 federal deadline to resolve disputes about the presidential election.

The recount in MI took a hit on Wednesday when a federal judge ordered for the process to be stopped entirely.

If there is money left over after the recounts and legal battles are done, Cobb said, the donors will be asked how to use any excess funds with a goal of supporting efforts to uphold election integrity.

“This is an attack on our democracy by Trump and Michigan Republicans”, said Lou Novak, a Michigan Green Party member and recount volunteer. Eighty-seven optical scanners failed on Election Day in Detroit, many in communities of color – and due to state law, nearly half of Detroit’s votes can’t even be recounted.

Clinton needed all three states to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election.

Two pro-Trump groups, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC, sued to stop the process. Stein received about 1 percent or less in each of those states while victory in the states was crucial to Trump’s capturing the White House.

The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta reports on the Michigan Supreme Court’s apparent inaction regarding the presidential recount. Despite that some counties in MI had already completely the hand recount of the state’s 4.8 million ballots, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith concluded that there was no evidence of foul play in the state’s voting system and therefore no reason to continue with the recount.

In her motion, Stein had argued against a Tuesday ruling by the State of Michigan Court of Appeals in favor of stopping the recount.

“This is a victory for the taxpayers and voters of MI”, said Ronna Romney McDaniel, chairman of the state Republican Party. Both the Trump and Clinton campaigns made gains but Trump’s campaign still leads the state, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

At the time of her request, Stein agreed to pay more than $900,000 – $125 per precinct – to initiate the recount.