Judge Orders Michigan Recount to Begin Monday

Updated. DETROIT, MI — U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled around midnight that the recount of Michigan's votes in the Nov. 8, 2016, presidential election must begin by noon Monday. Goldsmith held a rare hearing on Sunday on a lawsuit filed by Green Party candidate Jill Stein to speed up the recount of votes.

Two other court actions have been filed to stop the recount, which the State Board of Canvassers said on Friday could go forward. The board rejected a request from Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to recount the ballots using an optical scan, rather than hand-count the state's nearly 4.8 million ballots.

Recount advocates have said an optical scan would repeat errors, if there were any, and that a hand-reocunt is the only way to ensure the integrity of the election in Michigan and two other swing states — Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — where the Green Party candidate is seeking recounts.

On Friday, Stein challenged the two-business-day waiting period that would delay the recount until Wednesday morning. The lawsuit named the State Board of Canvassers and Michigan Director of Elections Chris Thomas as defendants.

Stein claimed she was “aggrieved on account of fraud or mistake” in the counting of the ballots, but did not offer specific evidence of how she was harmed in the election, which the first count said President-elect Donald Trump defeated Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes.

Mark Brewer, Stein’s attorney in Michigan, told The Detroit News the request for a recount doesn’t require Stein to prove wrongdoing or that she was harmed.

Stein’s Friday lawsuit was the third court action that day in the contentious fight over recounts. Trump, who previously had claimed boldly claimed on Twitter that millions of people voted illegally in the election, said in his own lawsuit that Stein is not an “aggrieved” party, and therefore lacked the standing to request the recount.

That was the same argument Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette raised Friday in a petition seeking a Michigan Supreme Court ruling to halt the recount. A hearing on Schuette's request is scheduled for Tuesday.
Depending on what happens in those lawsuits, the recount could begin Wednesday morning, or perhaps as early as Tuesday evening, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The State Board of Canvassers deadlocked, 2-2, along party lines Friday on Trump’s objection to the lawsuit.
Stein requested the recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania after a prominent group of election attorneys and computer scientists, including University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman, claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the election results in the three battleground states could have been hacked.

Stein told Fox News Sunday that 75,000 ballots, mostly concentrated in Detroit, showed no vote for president, which she said is “sky high compared to all other past elections.”

“That's 75,000 votes which may very well be machine error or human error. That is about seven times the margin of difference in Michigan. So these results could, in fact, change the outcome, but we don't know that until we actually examine the evidence. That means a hand recount of the ballots,” Stein said.

More Patch Coverage on Recounts

• Swing-State Hacking Fears Fuel Talk of Recounts
• It's Official: Donald Trump Wins Michigan; President-Elect Could Fight Recount
• Jill Stein Plans Court Action to Force Hand Recount of Wisconsin Ballots
• Pennsylvania Recount Petition Filed; Election Called ‘Illegal’
• Hillary Clinton Campaign Will Participate in Wisconsin Recount
• Wisconsin Recount: Jill Stein Raises $3.5M to Cover Costs
• Jill Stein Won't Appeal After Judge Rejects Hand-Count of Wisconsin Votes
• Jill Stein Officially Asks for Michigan Presidential Vote Recount
• Donald Trump, Jill Stein File Lawsuits on Michigan Recount

In Pennsylvania, the Stein campaign said late Saturday it had dropped its case in state courts and will instead petition federal courts to order a statewide recount, Fox News reported.

“Make no mistake — the Stein campaign will continue to fight for a statewide recount in Pennsylvania,” recount campaign lawyer Jonathan Abady said in a statement. “We are committed to this fight to protect the civil and voting rights of all Americans.”

The recount is ongoing in Wisconsin after a judge rejected an effort by Trump supporters to stop the state’s ongoing presidential vote recount.

The parties are up against a steep deadline. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet Dec. 19.

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons