Judge Refuses to End Wisconsin Recount: Report

By Mark Hensch, The Hill

09 December 16

federal judge on Friday dismissed a request from President-elect Donald Trump's supporters to halt a recount in Wisconsin, according to a new report.

Judge James Peterson's ruling in Madison will let the controversial review requested by Green Party nominee Jill Stein continue, reports The Wisconsin State Journal.

Stein initially requested the recount to determine whether election machines there were hacked last month.

Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by more than 22,000 votes in the state on Election Day.

Two pro-Trump groups, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC, filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 1, the day the recount began, seeking to halt the process. Wisconsin’s recount was more than 82 percent finished as of Wednesday and Clinton had gained 61 votes so far.

Eric Beach, co-chairman of Great America PAC, on Friday said Wisconsin's recount would not change the election's outcome.

"We applaud and thank Wisconsin for doing a great job on the recount. They are on target to finish this recount on time,” he said.

"[They] have shown a bright light on how pointless [Stein's] flim-flam recount was in the first place; having result in almost no change to President-elect Donald Trump's lead in the state, and hardly little gain by Democrat Hillary Clinton or Jill Stein, except for her checkbook."

Stein is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which, like Wisconsin, are typically blue states Trump narrowly won.

The Green Party nominee received about 1 percent in all three states. She argues her efforts are to ensure the electoral process’s legitimacy, rather than to change the outcome.

AP added a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Friday will hold a hearing on whether a recount effort can formally begin there as well.

Two Michigan Supreme Court members, meanwhile, on Friday removed themselves from consideration of an appeal by Stein to restart a recount there. Chief Justice Robert Young and Justice Joan Larsen did so because they have each appeared on Trump’s list of possible Supreme Court nominees.

Their decision follows a federal judge stopping a hand recount of nearly 5 million ballots in Michigan Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith’s ruling effectively sided with a state appeals court that previously decided Stein’s recount request is disqualified as she is not an “aggrieved” candidate.

Trump, who fiercely opposes all three recount efforts, has called Stein’s actions a “scam” aimed at raising money for her own campaign.