Trump supporters move to block election recounts

Michigan’s attorney general said on Friday he had filed a lawsuit to halt the Green Party’s requested recount of presidential votes in the state, adding to Republican efforts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to maintain Donald Trump’s victory.

Bill Schuette, a Republican, said in a statement that recounting all of the state’s votes “threatens to silence all Michigan votes for president” and criticised Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein for what he called an “inexcusable” and expensive request.

The Green Party has sought recounts of the results from the November 8th election in the three states, which bucked their history of supporting Democrats and voted narrowly for Mr Trump, a Republican. The party has said its campaign is focused on ensuring the integrity of the US voting system.

Even if the recounts take, they are extremely unlikely to change the overall result of the election, in which Mr Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Ms Stein, who scored only about 1 per cent of the vote, has said the recount campaign is not targeted at Mr Trump or Mrs Clinton.

The presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, or a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote.

Mr Trump far surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, with 306 electoral votes, and the recount would have to flip the result to Mrs Clinton in all three states to change the overall result. In the popular vote, Mrs Clinton won more than 2.5 million more votes than Mr Trump, according to the Cook Political Report.

On Thursday, attorneys for Mr Trump moved to block an effort to recount the vote in Pennsylvania and Michigan, Politico reported.

In Wisconsin, a Trump-supporting political action committee, Great America PAC, sued in federal court on Thursday seeking to block a recount there. The lawsuit cited as legal precedent the US Supreme Court’s Bush versus Gore decision that ended the 2000 election and Florida recount.

The Wisconsin Republican Party has also filed a complaint over the recount effort in that state, it said.

Lawyers for Mrs Clinton have said they would take part in the Wisconsin recount effort to ensure her campaign is legally represented, and that they would do the same if necessary in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Reuters