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Showing posts with label Bill Schuette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Schuette. Show all posts

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Jill Stein's Recount In Michigan May Be Blocked



BREAKING: Michigan Attorney General Makes Recount Announcement


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Leftist Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has seemingly been trying to aid the failed campaign of Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by pushing for a recount of the votes in three states narrowly won by President-elect Donald Trump: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
But if Michigan’s Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette has anything to say about it, there will be no recount, according to WZZM.
Schuette filed legal documents with the court Friday asking the Michigan Board of Canvassers and the Supreme Court to put a halt to the recount effort, claiming that Stein didn’t qualify as an “aggrieved” candidate to seek one since she only garnered roughly 1 percent of the vote and that there wasn’t sufficient time for a recount even if she were qualified to demand one.

“Michigan voters rejected Stein’s candidacy by massive margins, but her refusal to accept that state-verified result poses an expensive and risky threat to hardworking taxpayers and abuses the intent of Michigan law,” Schuette said, according to Politico.
“We have asked the court to end the recount which Stein is pursuing in violation of Michigan laws that protect the integrity of our elections,” he added. “It is inexcusable for Stein to put Michigan voters at risk of paying millions and potentially losing their voice in the Electoral College in the process.”
Schuette’s lawsuit also asked that the recount effort be dismissed due to the fact that even Stein herself has acknowledged that there was no evidence of any sort of fraud or widespread errors in favor of any candidate.

As for the cost to Michigan taxpayers for a recount, Schuette was likely referring to report from the Detroit Free Press noting that a statewide recount could cost nearly twice as much as originally thought, nearly $2 million total.
The state has charged Stein $125 per precinct for the recount, or roughly $800,000, but if the actual recount ends up costing more than what Stein paid, the state’s taxpayers will be on the hook for the cost overrun, which could be more than $1 million.
For the record, Michigan certified the results of the election on Monday, declaring Trump the winner by a margin of just 10,704 votes.
Please share this on Facebook and Twitter to spread the word that the Michigan attorney general is trying to put a stop to Jill Stein’s Clinton-helping recount in the state.

What do you think of the Michigan attorney general filing a lawsuit to stop the recount effort pushed by Jill Stein?
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Friday, December 2, 2016

Challenges To Recount Mounted In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Michigan Challenge Has Been Denied

Trump Backers Go to Court to Block Vote Recounts in 3 States

By MONICA DAVEY, JULIE BOSMAN and STEVE EDER
Ballots were stacked up as a statewide presidential election recount began Thursday, in Milwaukee.Morry Gash/Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. — Supporters of President-elect Donald J. Trump have filed legal challenges in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan in a suddenly robust effort to stop the presidential election recount efforts there.
Bill Schuette, the attorney general of Michigan, said that the recount, initiated by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, put Michigan voters at risk of “paying millions and potentially losing their voice in the Electoral College in the process.”
“This court cannot allow a dilatory and frivolous request for a recount by an aggrieved party to silence all Michigan votes for president,” Mr. Schuette, a Republican, said in a court filing.
A lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission filed in Federal District Court by the Great America PAC, the Stop Hillary PAC and Ronald R. Johnson, a Wisconsin resident, argued that the recount could “unjustifiably cast doubt” on Mr. Trump’s victory in that state.
The plaintiffs argued that the recount, which began across the state’s 72 counties on Thursday morning, should be halted immediately, in part because there is a substantial chance that it cannot be accurately completed by the deadline of Dec. 12. In 2011, a statewide recount took close to a month.
In Michigan on Friday, where the recount is still pending, the Board of State Canvassers met to consider an objection to the recount by Mr. Trump.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump told the canvassing board, which is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, that it should not allow a recount to proceed, describing it as needless, too expensive and not required by Michigan law. Besides, Ms. Stein came nowhere near winning the state.

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“This recount petition is absolutely unprecedented in the history of Michigan election law,” said Gary Gordon, a lawyer for Mr. Trump and his campaign.
A lawyer for Ms. Stein, Mark Brewer, said Mr. Trump’s campaign was making a “desperate attempt” to avoid a recount. “I would remind everybody that the original source of the allegation that this election was rigged was Mr. Trump,” Mr. Brewer told the board.
The Michigan board split, 2-2, along party lines, meaning the recount objection failed.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump and his allies are also seeking to halt legal proceedings by Ms. Stein to contest the statewide election results in Pennsylvania.
Lawrence J. Tabas, general counsel of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, said in an interview on Friday that Ms. Stein’s lawyers had fallen short of demonstrating that there was fraud or illegal action in the Nov. 8 election. “They know they have no claim,” he said.
“This action by Jill Stein and her supporters — I couldn’t even call it a Hail Mary pass, because that would be insulting to the Hail Mary pass,” said Mr. Tabas, who along with other lawyers, submitted a lengthy brief filed in Pennsylvania court on Thursday.
The recounts bids are widely viewed as having little chance of making a difference. But Ms Stein, in a statement, said the challenges to them were an effort to put “party politics above country.”
“In an election already tainted by suspicion, previously expressed by Donald Trump himself,” she said, “verifying the vote is a common-sense procedure that would put all concerns around voter disenfranchisement to rest. Trump’s desperate attempts to silence voter demands for recounts raise a simple question: why is Donald Trump afraid of these recounts?”
Ms. Stein has raised millions of dollars for an effort to force recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, states that have recently voted Democratic and where Mr. Trump won by relatively thin margins.
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Michigan Recount Proceeds After Trump Attempt To Stop It Fails

Michigan Recount Goes Forward, Barring Court Intervention

The Michigan Board of Canvassers deadlocked along party lines on President-elect Donald J. Trump's objection.



By Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff) - December 2, 2016 12:57 pm ET 





Michigan Recount Goes Forward, Barring Court Intervention


















Updated. Michigan's Board of Canvassers deadlocked
along party lines Friday on an objection filed by
 President-elect Donald J. Trump's campaign to a
 recount of the 4.8 million votes cast by Michiganders
 in the Nov. 8 presidential election. That means a
 hand recount will proceed, barring court action,
which the state's attorney general has requested.
The Board of Canvassers had said that if it deadlocked,
the hand-recount would proceed. However, lawyers
 for the president-elect have asked the board to stay
its decision, and it's unclear whether the hand-recount
 favored by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who
requested the recount, or a machine recount favored
 by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, will proceed.
Recount advocates have argued that a machine recount
 would repeat the errors — if there were any — in the
original count of the state's votes.
Johnson argues the machine recount would speed the
 process, save money and reduce the chances for error,
 the Detroit Free Press reported.
In either case, the recount can't start until Tuesday at
 the earliest, and it could be pushed back even farther
 in light of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's 
The recount is already under way in Wisconsin, but
 Trump supporters have asked a federal court in Madison 
to stop it, arguing it violates their due process rights.
Earlier update: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette
 said Friday he has filed an emergency action asking the
 Michigan Supreme Court to stop a statewide hand-
count of the 4.8 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential
election. The recount requested by Green Party candidate
 Jill Stein was among requests filed in three battleground
states that swung the election to President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Trump's campaign has contested the recount, and the Michigan
Board of Canvassers is meeting Friday morning to consider it.
“Michigan voters rejected Stein’s candidacy by massive margins
 but her refusal to accept that state-verified result poses an
expensive and risky threat to hard-working taxpayers and
abuses the intent of Michigan law,” Schuette said in a statement.
 “We have asked the court to end the recount which Stein is
pursuing in violation of Michigan laws that protect the integrity
 of our elections. It is inexcusable for Stein to put Michigan voters
 at risk of paying millions and potentially losing their voice in
 the Electoral College in the process.”
Schuette, who said he filed the action in his constitutional role
 of representing the people of the state of Michigan, is asking
 the court to order the Michigan Board of Canvassers to reject
Stein’s request for a statewide hand recount and claims it
 violates Michigan law.
Schuette’s suit explains that the Michigan statute authorizing
recounts requires Stein to demonstrate that she was “aggrieved”
by fraud or mistake in the counting of votes. Stein has said that
 she has no evidence of fraud or mistake, and Schuette argues she
 has not been “aggrieved in any sense of that word” after receiving
 only about 1 percent of the votes cast in Michigan.
Schuette also filed an emergency motion with the Michigan
Supreme Court asking to bypass the Court of Appeals for
 immediate consideration. 
Schuette’s suit also argues that Stein’s demand for a recount will
 be at the expense of Michigan taxpayers —she paid only about
a fourth of the estimated $5 million cost — and risky as well,
 because the delay caused by a hand-recount puts Michigan’s
votes at risk of not being included when the U.S. Congress
 convenes on Jan. 6 to count the states’ electoral votes.
On Thursday, attorneys for Trump also argued that Stein is
 not an "aggrieved" party by fraud or mistake; there is not
adequate time to complete the recount by Dec. 13, the "safe
 harbor" date to assure Michigan electors can cast ballots
when the Electoral College meets Dec. 19; and that Stein's
 petition wasn't properly signed and sworn.
Our earlier story: President-elect Donald J. Trump's
campaign officially objected Thursday to Green Party candidate
Jill Stein’s request for a laborious hand-recount of the state’s
nearly 4.8 million ballots. Trump was declared the winner of
the state’s 16 electoral votes by a margin of 10,704 votes on Monday.


The Morning Briefing: Trump's Scary Meeting, Starbucks Leaders Changing, a Trump Nomination to Head Defense
President-elect Donald Trump's Friday meeting has Democrats shaking in their boots, plus more from today's news.

The campaign said Michigan election officials should not grant
 "this lawless, insulting request."
Further, the campaign said in the objection that "voters should
 not risk having the Electoral College door knocked off its hinges
all because a 1 [percent] candidate is dissatisfied with the
election’s outcome. Given her tiny vote total, (Green Party
 presidential candidate Jill) Stein does not and could not
 possibly allege a good faith belief that she may have won
the state of Michigan."
Stein filed her recount request Wednesday, along with a
check for $973,250 to cover the costs to recount ballots in
 Michigan’s 6,300 precincts. The Green Party candidate,
 who received negligible support among Michigan voters,
 has never said her outcome would change. Rather, she
has said she wants to ensure that all votes were counted.
Stein and her attorneys have acknowledged there is no
evidence of fraud or impropriety but raised questions
about 85,000 ballots with “blank votes” in the presidential race —
 more than enough to make up for the difference separating
 Trump and Clinton.
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said Wednesday the
recount will cost more than $5 million, most of it to be
 borne by Michigan taxpayers. The state Republican party
went further, suggesting costs could soar to $12 million.
The recount was expected to begin Friday, but Trump’s 
equest will delay it, The Detroit News reported. The state
Board of Canvassers could rule on the request by 9:30 a.m.
 Friday, but even then the recount can't start for two business days.
Election officials in Oakland and Ingham counties had
hoped to start hand-counting the ballots on Friday, the
 Detroit Free Press reported.
Now it appears unlikely that the recount — if it is allowed —
will be completed by Dec. 10.
Trump in the past has been critical of the recount request,
 calling it “ridiculous” and “a scam.”
“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less
 than 1 percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the
ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most
of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount,"
the president-elect said in a statement.
Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Michigan
 Republican Party, has called the request by Stein a “temper
 tantrum” that won't change the outcome of the vote.

More Patch Coverage on Recounts

The recount requests came after a prominent group of
election attorneys and computer scientists, including
 University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex
Halderman, claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence”
 that the election results in the three battleground states could
 have been hacked.
Stein has also made requests for recounts in Wisconsin and
 Pennsylvania. Stein lost a bid for a hand-recount in Wisconsin,
but a majority of the counties plan to pursue that option,
their right under Wisconsin law. In Pennsylvania, at least
 six counties have received recount petitions, but the situation
in the Keystone State is more complicated than in Michigan
 and Wisconsin.



Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons
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Michigan Recount Encounters Major Roadblocks

Michigan Attorney General Vows to Stop Recount; Donald Trump Contests It

The president-elect’s formal petition to disallow the recount calls Jill Stein's request "lawless" and "insulting."


By Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff) - December 2, 2016 9:55 am ET 




Updated. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday 
that he will ask the Michigan Supreme Court to stop a statewide
 hand count of the 4.8 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential 
election, according to reports.
The state's Board of Canvassers could render Schuette's action
 moot at a hearing Friday morning on an objection filed Thursday
 by the campaign of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Attorneys for Trump argued that Green Party candidate
 Jill Stein, who filed the recount request and received only 
about 1 percent of the vote in Michigan, is not an "aggrieved"
 party by fraud or mistake; there is not adequate time to complete 
the recount by Dec. 13, "safe harbor" date to assure Michigan
 electors can cast ballots when the Electoral College meets 
Dec. 19; and that Stein's petition wasn't properly signed and sworn.


President-elect Donald J. Trump's campaign officially objected
 Thursday to Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s request for a 
laborious hand-recount of the state’s nearly 4.8 million ballots. 
Trump was declared the winner of the state’s 16 electoral votes
 by a margin of 10,704 votes on Monday.
The campaign said Michigan election officials should not grant
 "this lawless, insulting request."
Further, the campaign said in the objection that "voters should
 not risk having the Electoral College door knocked off its hinges
 all because a 1 [percent] candidate is dissatisfied with the
 election’s outcome. Given her tiny vote total, (Green Party 
presidential candidate Jill) Stein does not and could not 
possibly allege a good faith belief that she may have won
 the state of Michigan."
check for $973,250 to cover the costs to recount ballots in 
Michigan’s 6,300 precincts. The Green Party candidate, 
who received negligible support among Michigan voters,
 has never said her outcome would change. Rather, she has
 said she wants to ensure that all votes were counted.
Stein and her attorneys have acknowledged there is no evidence 
of fraud or impropriety but raised questions about 85,000 
ballots with “blank votes” in the presidential race — more than
 enough to make up for the difference separating Trump and 
Clinton.
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said Wednesday the recount 
will cost more than $5 million, most of it to be borne by 
Michigan taxpayers. The state Republican party went further, 
suggesting costs could soar to $12 million.

The National Report: Trump's Scary Meeting, Starbucks Leaders Changing, a Trump Nomination to Head Defense
President-elect Donald Trump's Friday meeting has Democrats shaking in their boots, plus more from today's news.

The recount was expected to begin Friday, but Trump’s request 
will delay it, The Detroit News reported. The state Board of 
Canvassers could rule on the request by 9:30 a.m. Friday, but
 even then the recount can't start for two business days.
Election officials in Oakland and Ingham counties had hoped 
 Press reported.
Now it appears unlikely that the recount — if it is allowed — 
will be completed by Dec. 10.
Trump in the past has been critical of the recount request, 
calling it “ridiculous” and “a scam.”
“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less
 than 1 percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot
 in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which
 she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount," the
 president-elect said in a statement.
Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Michigan
 Republican Party, has called the request by Stein a “temper
 tantrum” that won't change the outcome of the vote.

More Patch Coverage on Recounts


The recount requests came after a prominent group of election 
attorneys and computer scientists, including University 
of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman, 
claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the
Stein has also made requests for recounts in Wisconsin and 
 but a majority of the counties plan to pursue that option, their 
right under Wisconsin law. In Pennsylvania, at least six counties 
have received recount petitions, but the situation in the Keystone
 State is more complicated than in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons

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