Focus of recount effort shifts to Michigan, Pennsylvania
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jill Stein, the presidential Green Party candidate, spoke at a news conference in front of Trump Tower, today, in New York.
MADISON, Wis. » Presidential candidate Jill Stein’s fight to force ballot recounts in three states focused today on Pennsylvania, where her Green Party was seeking an emergency federal court order for a statewide recount, and Michigan, where a hand recount began on the orders of a federal judge.
President-elect Donald Trump narrowly defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in both states and Wisconsin, which started its recount last week. The recounts were not expected to change enough votes to overturn the result of the election.
Stein, who received about 1 percent of the vote in all three states, says her intent is to verify the accuracy of the vote. She has suggested, with no evidence, that votes cast were susceptible to computer hacking.
“Let every vote count,” Stein said today outside Trump Tower in New York “That’s what makes America great.”
The news conference, held on busy Fifth Avenue, was repeatedly interrupted by shouts of protest. Several Trump supporters heckled the proceedings, with one yelling, “Jill Stein is a common criminal.”
Here’s what’s happening in each state and in Nevada, where a partial recount of the race was requested by independent presidential candidate Roque De La Fuente:
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WISCONSIN
The recount began Thursday and continued over the weekend, with little change so far in the unofficial results as reported on election night. Six counties had completed their work as of this morning, with the margin between Trump and Clinton unchanged. Both candidates lost 20 votes.
A federal lawsuit was filed late last week by a Trump voter and two super PACs seeking to stop the recount. The judge rejected a request to halt the recount while the lawsuit is pending and scheduled a hearing for Friday.
State and local election officials have all said they don’t expect Clinton to surpass Trump in Wisconsin, where he won by about 22,000 votes.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission said no significant issues have been reported after four full days of recounting and any changes between canvass results and recount totals have been due to human error.
MICHIGAN
A federal judge late Sunday night in Detroit ordered a statewide hand recount of roughly 4.8 million ballots, which started in some counties this afternoon. Republicans appealed that ruling today. Trump won the state by about 10,700 votes, or two-tenths of a percentage point, over Clinton.
Stein argued that a law is unconstitutional that requires a break of at least two business days after the Board of Canvassers’ final action on a recount request. Judge Mark Goldsmith found that Stein had “shown the likelihood of irreparable harm” if the count was delayed even by two days and rejected the state’s arguments about the cost to taxpayers.
Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, the Trump campaign and super PACs have filed separate lawsuits asking state courts to prevent the recount, arguing that Stein, as the fourth-place finisher, is not “aggrieved” because she has no chance of winning in a recount. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday on those actions.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Green Party filed a federal lawsuit today seeking a statewide recount — a move that came after the party on Saturday dropped a case set to be argued today in state courts.
An updated count Friday by state election officials showed Trump’s lead shrinking to 49,000 from 71,000 over Clinton, out of 6 million votes cast, as more counties finish counting overseas ballots and settled provisional ballot challenges. That is still shy of Pennsylvania’s 0.5 percent trigger for an automatic statewide recount.
Final counts are outstanding in some counties, but there are not enough uncounted votes to change the outcome, officials say.
NEVADA
A recount began today in Nevada at a county election warehouse near Las Vegas where officials say they expect it will take all week to review votes. Only nine other precincts in four Nevada counties are being reviewed at the request of De La Fuente. He picked the 93 precincts statewide that he wanted reviewed. If the sample shows a discrepancy of at least 1 percent for De La Fuente or Clinton, a full recount will be launched in all 17 Nevada counties. Clinton defeated Trump in Nevada by 27,202 votes, out of 1.1 million votes cast.
De La Fuente finished last, with a fraction of 1 percent of the vote. He requested and paid about $14,000 for the recount to provide what he called a counterbalance to the recounts sought by Stein.
Nevada Secretary of State spokeswoman Gail Anderson said the recount will be finished by the end of this week.
Associated Press writers David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jonathan Lemire in New York City; and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
33 responses to “Focus of recount effort shifts to Michigan, Pennsylvania”
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Watched Stein on Fox news Sunday….she’s a beauty. Since Crooked hiLIARy is together with Stein on this recount campaign why isn’t she out there too?
Beauty is correct….but where is Hillary? She should be out front on any recall. They seem to be using Stein.
Hillary keeping a low profile as to not anger Donald so he kick starts his email probe again.
Trump has been raging for months about rigged elections and massive fraud. Why is he so opposed to a recount and audit of votes? This is hypocrisy on a grand scale.
In a motion filed in Michigan, Trump’s lawyers said, “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.” Are Trump’s own lawyers calling him a liar?
where are you getting that Trump is opposed to the recount? So far he is up 17K in WI due to the recount and they are now investigating the inordinate disproportion of Hillary absentee votes in PA, he is actually winning more due to the recount…his only complaint is the hypocrisy being displayed by the media and Hillary – “he speculated on not accepting the results if he lost – a true statement – Hillary attacked him as did the media for doing so…….and NOW….???? It is the Hypocrisy of it all; not the recount that is annoying the margins are so large they can waste the millions and the outcome will stand!
Not only that mitsuni, the democrats insisted that Trump was “off the wall” for making claims of rigged elections and yet Hilary is in on this recount. If the democrats were so sure that the election was not rigged, why join in the recount. That is another hypocritical move by the democrats. To the point that Trump says the election was rigged, I don’t think he was pointing to stuffing of ballot boxes. I think his point was more the media overwhelmingly making big news out of unsubstantiated claims about him. On the other hand, hardly a whisper about Clinton’s missteps.
Green Party is suing for recount which begs question how will it help Stein from winning when she garnered approximately 1% of the popular votes. Courts should deny the suits as she has not been “harmed”! She is attempting to beg for donations on behalf of the “greenies” and also pay herself as chairman.
Trump backers yelling at Stein, “your a common criminal”.????Why do trump people want women in Jail?? Oh yeah easier to “grab um by their putty”.
Where am I “getting that Trump is opposed to the recount?” Trump has strongly opposed the recount in tweets and in rally speeches. His lawyers have filed lawsuits to stop the recounts in 3 states.
He is not “up 17K in WI due to the recount.” After day 4 of the recount, the State of Wisconsin elections board reports that he is up 39 votes.
In PA, he is not “winning more due to the recount.” The statewide recount sought by Stein is still held up in the courts. The initial round of vote counting is still continuing as mail-in ballots are being counted. Trump’s lead in PA has decreased from 71,000 to 49,000 as the final ballots are being counted.
The law provides for recounts. There is nothing hypocritical about a candidate pursuing a course of action that is within the state’s election laws. What is hypocritical is claiming that the system is rigged and, without a shred of evidence, saying that millions of people voted illegally, and then saying that there shouldn’t be recounts.
When asked on 60- Minutes whether he was concerned about Trump’s lies about illegal voters, Paul Ryan responded, “It doesn’t matter to me. He won the election,”
Hold on, at last report Hillary gained a vote….so you’re telling me there is a chance….
It is also a delay tactic. If those states are unable to complete the count by the actual electoral vote, their votes will not be counted. If the electoral votes from those three states are not counted, neither candidate will have met the 270 electoral votes necessary. Trump would still win but the margin would likely be smaller in the electoral college. I believe the remaining money that Jill Stein has raised (somewhere around $7 million) for the recount would go to her party. She’s just running a scam and getting name recognition.
In the long run, she is hurting her party more than helping.
Your a fool. Stein is actually gaining voter power. If trump can be a GOP representative after they all slammed him, why not Stein joinING the Democrats? Huh?
That’s a wildly inaccurate version how the deadlines work. The second sentence of your post is 100% FALSE. In order for the results of a recount to be the official basis for the electoral college, the recount must be finished before a deadline. If the recount misses that date, then the original vote count will be the basis for the electoral college vote. In Wisconsin, for example, the deadline for completion of a recount is December 13. The Electoral College meets six days later on December 19.
If there was to be any fraud, you’d expect it to be from Democrats, as the vast majority of illegals vote for the giveaways (i.e., Democrats). Jill should not be allowed to ask for a recount, with less than a per cent or so of the vote. Hillary can, but she should step up to the plate if that’s what she wants to do and not use Stein as a surrogate.
Not so fast on hilLIARy being the person pushing Stein on this one. Hearing that LYING MEDIA weren’t telling us the whole truth about where the money was coming from…(hint) it might actually be Trump supporters who are funding this recount. They wanted to sucker Clinton into supporting Stein to show Clintons HYPOCRISY of her criticism of Trump during the campaign…which she so blindly has done. Trump supporters weren’t anticipating finding fraud for Trump though and have asked Stein to pull out of a Pennsylvania statewide recount. Seems like MEDIA and Trump are now allies in this GREAT unification of America. #MAGA
Illegals don’t vote. Illegals don’t get “giveaways.” Stein’s recount requests comply with state laws; neither you nor Trump get to decide who has the right to use existing laws. Stein is not a surrogate for Clinton.
I was referring to CA. They encourage EVERYONE to vote. Illegals were the largest group to receive driver’s licenses last year. The question is just how many have voted. And nobody will investigate.
“Illegals don’t get giveaways.” Think again. Illegals need to be clothed, schooled, fed, housed, some even receive tax credits, welfare and social security benefits. Get your facts straight, bsdetection.
cajaybird, CA does not allow unregistered persons to vote. CA does not register non-citizens to vote, whether they are legal residents or not. CA does not accept a driver’s license as proof of citizenship.
For information purposes, a random selection of a few thousand votes from Los Angeles County should be done to verify citizenship. It would be fascinating to know how many of the illegals who were issued driver’s licences voted (illegally).
A driver’s license does not qualify anyone to vote. Not in California and not in any other state. The voting requirements for Federal elections are set by Federal law. No State can lower the criteria for voting in a Federal election. In California, getting a driver’s license, whether you are a citizen or not, triggers a voter registration process. Drivers license applicants are asked if they want to opt into the registration process. If they opt in, the information they provided to get a license is forwarded to the Secretary of State. Then, if they chose to follow through with the process, they have to provide to the Secretary of State the same proof of citizenship that is required to vote in a Federal election in the other 49 states. Having the registration of legitimate voters begin at the office issuing drivers license is simply an effort to get more people to participate in elections, a fundamentally democratic goal.
The story, which you may have heard on Fox News, that non-citizens can vote in California in a Federal election if they have a drivers license is FAKE NEWS. Voter eligibility in California is no different from any other state. Suggest you find an 8th grade civics textbook and read about elections.
Cajay is one of those undereducated trump voters that regurgitate Fox bs. He has to be reminded.
CA uses an honor system. You have no clue what you’re talking about. The voter form does say, you must be a citizen. The problem is trying to investigate voting in CA. It’s of no interest to both parties for national elections because it’s a heavily Democrat state.
Uneducated? That’s a badge of honor coming from you.
CA does NOT use an “honor system.” The office of the Secretary of State verifies the citizenship and voting eligibility of all applicants.
So in Penn.,Trump lost 22,000 more votes in his 71,000. lead? Where did those votes go??? I mean, 22,000.???WTF.
Seems that Trump supporters who were FUNDING Stein didn’t anticipate voter fraud FOR Trump. After noticing the discrepancies for Trump they wanted Stein to STOP the recount…Green Party wants to continue the recount in Pennsylvania though so they can keep the money. Interesting to see the outcome either way. #MAGA
He didn’t lose votes. The mail-n votes and other votes that were counted late favored Clinton.
Thanks for detecting the bs.
LOSE MONEY!
The Demmies are a bunch of crybabies. I told you so. They can’t accept reality. Glad to see they are getting a large dose of their own medicine. The Demmies should make like a putrid flatulent and fade away.
Jill Stein looks like a homeless person with serious mental problems.