Posted on 12/02/2016 9:09:33 AM PST by Olog-hai
Donald Trump and his backers have launched formal legal bids to stop recounts in, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan that are being pushed for by failed Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Lawyers for Trump’s campaign have entered arguments in Pennsylvania and Michigan — calling Stein’s quest a “farce” — and in the latter, the state attorney general has filed to stop the recount effort he says “abuses the intent of Michigan law”.
Trump’s supporters are taking legal action in Wisconsin where a third recount effort is underway. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
But, as the OP stated: this is a violation of a US Supreme Court decision.
As you may remember, Gore tried to conduct a recount in only selected counties where he thought he could get more votes. The Court said "no, you count all of them the same way, or don't bother".
That was different - whether to selectively choose counties to be recounted, not the method of recounting. IMO Bush v. Gore does not apply, but your mileage may vary.
It’s not a change, WI law provides for counties to choose their recount method, Stein was trying to force all counties to hand recount, and the judge said no.
The problem with a hand recount, at least in Dane County, is that the Dems in charge there are doing what they can to slow, stall, obstruct, etc. to delay the results to beyond the cutoff date (December 13) so that Wisconsin’s results will be excluded from the electoral college. This tactic by the Dems was revealed by a Pub US Rep from Wisconsin in an interview on Fox last night.
Of course they do. Over at DU they are already screaming “what does he have to hide?” Idiots!
Be careful with that. A court may require hand recounts in all counties, not just one (Dane County). Such a delay could last beyond the cutoff date of December 13 for submittal of Wisconsin results to the electoral college.
“Now they can decry Trump’s victory as illegitimate.”
They were going to do that regardless. Let them whine & moan all they want. Trump fights back unlike the GOPe turds of the past.
The federal judge can and should rule Wisconsin was wrong in allowing different recount standards. Simply having different counting methods are fine. But different methods when looking to establish voter intent when some ballots may have under votes are not fine.
Exactly. No matter what they will claim he is illegitimate.
His legal team should go forward as aggressively as possible.
The judge wouldn’t force them to count in any particular manner. He would just say that you must count uniformly.
At that point I would guess Wisconsin election board would realize that a hand count would put their electoral votes in jeopardy and they would either mandate all counts by machine or they would stop counting all together.
No, that's not what the Court said. They explicitly ruled against a differing recount standard.
I misremembered, as Gore kept moving the goalposts as he was thwarted. Florida was prepared to perform a statewide recount, but the statewide "standard" was "clear indication of the intent of the voter".
The problem: that's not a "standard". A ballot marked one way in County A and evaluated by Person X could be counted one way, but an identical ballot in County B and evaluated by person Y could be counted a different way.
The Court ruled 7-2 that this was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The more controversial decision was 5-4, that they couldn't conduct a constitutionally permissible recount by the deadline.
You can find the synopsis here, with links to the decision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore
Excellent explanation.
You cannot have varying ways of discerning voter intent.
Simply counting a clearly marked ballot doesn’t leave room for interpretation.
If the recount is not finished in Michigan, Michign will still have Electors- and they will vote for Trump.
This should have happened on Tuesday instead of Friday.
A few days late but right on target.
This is where the Florida system failed, miserably.
The punchcard ballots weren't necessarily "clearly marked".
And worse: every time a ballot was handled (whether you put it through a machine, or just examine them by hand), you could knock a "chad" from the ballot -- invalidating the ballot for that particular race.
I remember a lot of people were mystified about why it was so difficult. But, the reality is that a punchcard ballot system simply has a relatively large margin of error, and it can't be guaranteed to be accurate for the scale of Florida, and the margin of victory.
A few days late but right on target.
I think it was too early, not too late. If there is controversy in the voting, the EVs go to Trump. If the clock runs out before anything changes, Trump becomes President. If the EVs from all or any combination of these states are lost, Trump still becomes President.
I don't care a whit if the RATs get something to complain about -- they are complaining plenty about all sorts of stuff right now. An economic recovery, fewer illegals, higher employment and Trump wins reelection in 2020. Petty squabbles like this get swept under the rug.
But, if we allow the Dems to manufacture enough votes they will steal the election. And they have been cheating ever since election day.
We need to keep our eyes on the big prize, not the little skirmishes. We can lose them and still win big. Run out the clock.
I think that in Bush v. Gore it went directly to the Supremes and not through a federal appellate court. Scary since the court is split 50/50.
So nice to have the adults in charge again. So nice.
“His legal team should go forward as aggressively as possible.”
I’m confident Trump & his attorney’s are on top of things. Remember, Trump doesn’t advertise how he is going to attack the enemy. He just does it.
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