Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Trump, GOP ask courts to block recounts in Pa., Mich. Wisc.

A nonpartisan vote counting website reports that Trump’s lead over Clinton in Pa. has narrowed to 46,948.

President-elect Donald Trump's supporters filed court motions Friday to try to block statewide recounts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Days before a Commonwealth Court hearing in Pennsylvania on the request for a statewide recount from Green Party candidate Jill Stein, the state Republican Party urged the court to reject the request. In a motion made public Friday, they said a recount "puts Pennsylvania at grave risk" of not meeting a federal deadline to certify its votes.

"The legal antics of that election's fourth-place finisher suddenly meddle with Pennsylvania's electoral participation," attorneys for the state GOP and Trump's campaign wrote in their court filing.

Commonwealth Court has scheduled a Monday hearing on the recount petition.

In a lawsuit seeking the recount, Stein's campaign cited research by computer scientists suggesting possible irregularities with electronic voting machines.

Stein supporters also filed petitions for recounts in precincts around the state. In Philadelphia, recounts were underway Friday; a judge rejected petitions for recount in Montgomery County last week, and Bucks County will hold a hearing Tuesday.

An Allegheny County judge rejected a Republican bid to avert a recount of vote totals in 52 of the county's precincts Friday, and a partial recount will take place Monday.

Aside from the recount, vote totals are changing from initially reported results as counties finish counting absentee ballots and certify their final results.

Vote counts reported on election night are unofficial, so changes occur in every election. Counties often need to continue counting absentee ballots and sort out what to do with provisional ballots. The election board in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties must vote to certify its results before the Dec. 13 federal deadline, although it is not clear what would happen if the deadline isn't met.

In Bucks County, for example, Hillary Clinton's lead over Trump grew from 1,988 votes on the night of Nov. 8 to 2,699 votes as of Friday.

The nonpartisan vote counting website Decision Desk HQ that tabulated returns county-by-county reported that Trump's lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania had narrowed to 46,948 votes.

Statewide results had previously shown a margin of about 71,000 votes between Trump and Clinton.

On Friday the state's website reported a vote margin of 67,416 between Trump and Clinton, but a spokeswoman for the Department of State said not every county had reported updated or certified vote totals.

Trump supporters also filed objections Friday to recounts in Michigan and Wisconsin.

A recount is already underway in Wisconsin, where two pro-Trump groups went to court late Thursday to try to halt it. No hearing had been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

In Michigan, the elections board deadlocked Friday on a request from the Trump campaign to deny Stein's recount request. The deadlock means a recount will begin next week unless the courts intervene. The state's Republican attorney general asked Michigan's Supreme Court to do that, arguing that Stein shouldn't be allowed to seek the recount because she finished so far behind Trump and Clinton that it could not result in her winning. The court did not indicate when it would rule.

lmccrystal@phillynews.com

610-313-8116 @Lmccrystal

This article contains information from the Associated Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.