Will There Be A Recount In 2016? Michigan Court Rules In Favor Of Jill Stein, Orders Immediate Recount

A federal judge in Detroit ruled in favor of the Green Party’s presidential candidate Jill Stein and ordered a recount of Michigan’s presidential results to begin at noon Monday. Stein had requested a recount in the state after allegations of discrepancies with voting machines surfaced, however, President-elect Donald Trump had sued election officials to stop the recount bid.

The ruling, issued late Sunday by Judge Mark Goldsmith, rejected an attempt by state officials to begin the recount after two business days. Stein’s lawyers had argued that the counting of the ballots would not meet the Dec. 13 deadline if started Wednesday.

“With the perceived integrity of the presidential election as it was conducted in Michigan at stake, concerns with cost pale in comparison,” Goldsmith said, in the ruling.

Late Friday, Stein filed a lawsuit against Michigan’s election officials to speed up the recount bid. She is also looking for recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. All three states are battleground states where Republican Trump defeated Democratic Hillary Clinton by thin margins.

For the Pennsylvania recount, Stein’s campaign announced Saturday that it would seek help from federal courts instead of state courts as the recount suit was dropped after the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania asked for a $1 million bond. She tweeted after midnight Sunday that she would “escalate” the recount bid in the state and “demand a statewide recount on constitutional grounds. The people deserve answers.”

“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. Over the past several days, it has become clear that the barriers to verifying the vote in Pennsylvania are so pervasive and that the state court system is so ill-equipped to address this problem that we must seek federal court intervention.”