Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The Michigan Recount Should Now End

The appellate court in Michigan has ruled that Jill Stein is not "aggrieved" because there is no chance that a recount will result in her victory.  As a result, the court ruled that the recount in MI must end.  This ought to be the final performance in Stein's "No Evidence Of Wrongdoing Or Mistake" tour.

It's worth noting that the federal court order issued earlier this week only dealt with the timing of the ongoing recount, not its propriety under state law.  For that the latest decision should control.  Stein may appeal to the Supreme Court of Michigan, but there's no reason to think the outcome will change.

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, there is more news regarding Stein's collapsing effort.  The federal suit that Stein brought to compel a recount on constitutional grounds (that's a laugh), was assigned to a federal judge (Diamond) who is unlikely to play games.  The judge set a hearing for Friday to hear arguments.  Fortunately, the judge is one who has been a victim of political games in the past and is unlikely to go along with them now.  In 2008, the judge was appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals by president Bush, but the Democrats who controlled the senate refused to consider that appointment since it was an election year.  In other words, they did the same thing that the GOP did this year with Merrick Garland.  Absent some sort of game, there is no conceivable constitutional basis to order a recount.  There is no proof of tampering, error or miscounting, so Stein can't even show any injury, let alone one that rises to a constitutional level.  That means that the recount in PA is over just like the one in MI.

Then there's Wisconsin.  With about a third of the counties finished with their recounts, Trump's lead has expanded by 146 votes compared to the numbers on election day.  These counties hold close to half of all the votes statewide.  The recount is an obvious waste of time.

So far, all that Jill Stein has proven with her recount effort (which Clinton supported) is that she knows how to waste time and money. 

No comments: