Michigan to begin recount today

Election officials in Michigan will start recounting, by hand, the state’s 4.8 million ballots at noon today. Late Sunday, a federal judge ordered the recount to proceed after considering an emergency request from Green Party leader Jill Stein.

Republicans, including Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, argue in separate lawsuits that Stein didn’t have standing to sue for a recount because she only won about 1 percent of the vote, an outcome the recount won’t change. But Judge Mark Goldsmith ordered the state to honor Stein’s request.

Michigan is one of three states in which Stein has asked officials to tally votes again, even though experts say it’s highly unlikely the work will alter the election outcome. President-elect Donald Trump won Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania by narrow margins over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In Pennsylvania, Stein dropped her case in state court on Saturday in favor of an appeal in federal court. Officials there are still finalizing the first count, and over the weekend they announced Trump’s lead shrank from 71,000 to 49,000. Counties continue to tally overseas and provisional ballots, so that number could change again. But officials say they don’t have enough outstanding ballots to alter the outcome.

The Wisconsin recount that started Thursday continued over the weekend, with little change in the overall tally. Trump won the state by 22,000 votes.

Another candidate who had even less support than Stein, independent Roque De La Fuente, requested a partial recount in Nevada, which Clinton won by 27,202 votes. De La Fuente paid $14,000 for a recount in four counties, as well as Carson City. If the recount finds a discrepancy of at least 1 percent, state officials will begin a recount in all 17 counties.