Washington: Allies of US President-elect Donald Trump are asking the courts to block election recounts in three key states where the Republican narrowly prevailed over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
The recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were requested by the Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein, who received little more than 1 per cent of the nationwide popular vote on November 8. Stein has raised millions of dollars to pay for the recounts and denies that she is trying to overturn the election in favor of Clinton, though supporters of the former Secretary of State have joined the initiative.
Michigan’s Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, filed for a court injunction to stop the recount, arguing that it confronts the state’s voters with the risk of “potentially losing their voice in the Electoral College”.
In Wisconsin, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC asked a federal court to halt the recount, contending that the procedure could “unjustifiably cast doubt” on Trump’s win in the state. Pro-Trump lawyers in Pennsylvania argue that the recount in the Keystone State should be stopped because Stein has no evidence of fraud or illegality.
Pointing to what she described as evidence of “anomalies” in the voting in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Stein says that the reliability of election results “need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified”.
According to the latest figures, Clinton has won the national popular vote by a margin of more than 2.5 million.
