Michigan presidential recount: Trump files objection

DETROIT – President-elect Donald Trump's campaign has filed an objection to the Green Party's filing for an official recount in the state of Michigan.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign officially filed a recount request Wednesday afternoon. It's under review, and now delayed due to the objection. 

View: Trump's objection filing

The Michigan Secretary of State issued the following statement after Trump's team filed the objection:

Under Michigan law, the recount is halted until the Board of State Canvassers resolves the objection. The board, which by law must resolve the complaint within five days, is scheduled to consider resolution of the objection tomorrow, Dec. 2. If the objection is not adopted by the board, the recount can commence after the second business day following the board’s decision. If the board adopts the objection, the recount would be ended.

The Secretary of State also offered this summary of Thursday's recount happenings: 

  • The Bureau of Elections received an objection from Donald J. Trump's representatives. A PDF of the objection is available here and more background is available here.
  • Recount activity originally scheduled to begin in Ingham and Oakland counties on Friday, and over the weekend in other counties has been put on hold until the Board of State Canvassers makes a determination on the objection.
  • The Board of State Canvassers is scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, in Banquet Room 2 of the Lansing Center (Main Floor), 333 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. The board is also scheduled to meet at noon Saturday, Dec. 3, in room 426 of the State Capitol in Lansing.
  • The Bureau of Elections continued its training sessions for staff who would help with the recount process should it proceed.

VIEW: Schedule released for Michigan presidential voting recount

Stein called the Trump campaign's objection "frivolous."

"The recount in Michigan, which has been driven by an outpouring of grassroots support in the state – will go forward,” Stein said in a news release Thursday afternoon. "The Michigan Board of State Canvassers and Director of Elections has been a model of professionalism in moving this recount forward in an efficient, transparent manner. Yet the Trump campaign’s cynical efforts to delay the recount and create unnecessary costs for taxpayers are shameful and outrageous."

Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

With the election being relatively close in Michigan, Stein's campaign said "computer scientists and election experts have raised serious concerns about election results, including the vulnerability of voting machines that can be breached without detection and have a tendency to misread markings made by voters."

The Michigan GOP has been blasting the Stein campaign, calling it a "ridiculous" petition.

“Jill Stein’s 1% temper tantrum cannot go unchecked,” said Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel.  “Stein is not an aggrieved candidate, she cannot possibly win, and she is putting the participation of every single Michigan voter in jeopardy, for no reason, at an exorbitant cost to the Michigan taxpayers.”

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Meanwhile, the Stein campaign's Wisconsin recount is underway. 

"The recount in Wisconsin begins today as a critical first step towards restoring faith in our voting system. Americans deserve a voting system we can believe in - that is accurate, secure and transparent, and that counts every vote. We urge county election administrators to use hand recounts, cited as the gold standard in Monday's court decision, and not simply push a button that would repeat whatever problems may have occurred in the original tally," Stein said in a news release. 


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