All sides agreed Tuesday that state and local election officials did a generally good job on a statewide presidential recount that was halted by the courts on Wednesday after two and a half days of counting. But testimony before the Board of State Canvassers differed on whether the partial recount requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein served a useful purpose. Still, the board voted Tuesday 3-1 to formally reject Stein’s request for a recount. To Stein attorney Mark Brewer, who formally withdrew Stein’s recount request at Tuesday’s meeting of the state elections panel, the recount turned up significant problems with uncounted ballots, faulty machines, and large numbers of precincts that could not be recounted under state law.
“This was a very healthy process,” and “it would have been better and healthier for the recount to have been finished,” in order to more fully test the integrity and heighten confidence in the state’s election system, Brewer told the board.
To Eric Doster, an attorney representing Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the exercise was a waste of time and money.
“We found no fraud, and the results are rather unremarkable,” Doster told the board.
Full Article: Michigan elections panel weighs value of vote recount.