Michigan Supreme Court Denies Jill Stein's Recount Appeal

DETROIT, MI — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled 3-2 Friday to deny Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s appeal of a decision that scuttled a recount of the state’s 4.8 million ballots, according to reports.

Stein isn’t quietly going away, though. She will hold a rally at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Cobo Center in Detroit to protest a decision earlier this week by U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith to end the historic recount, the largest in Michigan’s history.

Goldsmith, who earlier had ruled the recount should go forward, tied his decision to a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals that said the recount should never have been allowed and that Stein, who received only about 1 percent of the vote, was not an “aggrieved” candidate under state election law.

Stein attorney Mark Brewer said Friday at a Lansing news conference that although not completed, the recount revealed numerous problems with the voting process in Michigan, and “that’s one of the most important reasons we urge the Michigan Supreme Court to let it continue,” The Detroit News reported.
Brewer noted numerous problems, including a large number of precincts that were disqualified from the recount because the number of voters in poll books and the number of ballots cast didn’t match.

“I think halting the recount at this point raises more suspicions, because we’re halfway through a process which has showed defects,” Brewer said.

Trump’s campaign started the flurry of court battles after the State Board of Canvassers allowed the recount to go forward last week. Trump and his lawyers argued Stein’s request for a recount was technically deficient and that she “has no possible opportunity to earn Michigan's electoral votes or become president,” but “seeks to thrust a costly and time-consuming recount upon Michigan citizens.”

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons