Final Michigan Election Results: What Is The Vote Difference Between Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton? Can There Be A Recount?

Michigan, one of the last states to finish compiling its official vote tally for the 2016 election, announced its certified results Monday. Donald Trump won the state's 16 electoral votes by just over 10,000 votes to finish with 306 electoral votes.

The Michigan Department of State certified its election results Monday with Democrat Hillary Clinton losing by a margin of 10,704 votes to Trump, who received 2,279,543 votes to Clinton’s 2,268,839. That difference represents one of the tightest margins in close states that broke late for Trump and ultimately delivered him an unexpected victory over the former secretary of state. In poll numbers compiled by Real Clear Politics, Clinton led in 30 of 31 polls and by an average margin of 3.4 percent. One poll is October, had Clinton leading by 13 points.

Trump captured wins in several states that seemed competitive or solidly in Clinton’s column ahead of Election Day. They included Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which was long considered to be a crucial element of Clinton’s so-called “firewall” to beat Trump.

The Republican’s upset victory has spurred progressives to question exactly why the polling was so inaccurate. In Wisconsin, for example, an effort to recount votes in the state has been started by Green Party candidate Jill Stein who has been raising millions of dollars to ensure that the election wasn’t tampered with by outside forces like the Russian government. She would also like to secure a recount in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Trump has blasted those efforts even despite questioning the election results himself, claiming he would have won the popular vote if the election hadn’t been rigged with illegal votes (this allegation, made initially on Twitter, has not been substantiated in any way by Trump or his campaign).

While Clinton lost the Electoral College contest, she has opened up a big lead over Trump in the popular vote tally and has received over 2 million more votes than the president-elect.