LANSING, Mich.: President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters went to court Friday to prevent or halt election recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, less than two weeks before the states would have to complete the tasks to meet a federal deadline to certify their election results.
The legal actions seeking to block or halt the recounts in three states Trump narrowly won could cause delays that would make them extremely difficult or impossible to complete on time. Even if the recounts happen, though, none would be expected to give Democrat Hillary Clinton enough votes to emerge as the winner.
The recounts were requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who says they’re necessary to ensure that voting machines weren’t hacked, even though there’s no evidence that they were. Critics say Stein is simply trying to raise money and her political profile while building a donor database.
Wisconsin is the only state where a recount is underway. It began Thursday, and one of the state’s 72 counties had already completed its task by Friday, with Clinton gaining a single a vote on Trump. Clinton lost to Trump in Wisconsin by about 22,000 votes, or less than 1 percentage point.
Two pro-Trump groups, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC, along with Wisconsin voter Ronald R. Johnson went to federal court late Thursday to try and stop the recount. U.S. District Judge James Peterson on Friday rejected their request for a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the recount, saying there was no harm in allowing it to continue while the court considers their lawsuit.
A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Dec. 9.
The lawsuit says Wisconsin is violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling because it doesn’t have uniform standards to determine which votes should be counted in a recount.
If states miss the deadline, Congress would allot their electoral votes.
Michigan’s elections board deadlocked Friday on a Trump campaign request to deny Stein’s recount request and on how a recount would be conducted. Both Republican members voted to prevent the recount while both Democrats voted to allow it. It likely will begin Wednesday unless the courts intervene.
In separate lawsuits against the state, Michigan’s Republican attorney general and Trump asked state courts to prevent the recount, saying Stein should not be allowed to seek one because she finished so far behind Trump and Clinton that she couldn’t have won, even if some votes were miscounted.
In Pennsylvania, a hearing is scheduled for Monday on Stein’s push to secure a court-ordered statewide recount there.