DETROIT, Dec. 5 (UPI) — A federal judge early Monday ordered the recount of Michigan’s presidential ballots to begin at noon.
U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith issued the ruling after a rare hearing Sunday. He issued his opinion just after midnight.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s lawyers made an emergency request objecting to a two-day waiting period that would have pushed the recount back to late Tuesday at the earliest.
Goldsmith said the wait violates voting rights and Stein showed a “a credible threat that the recount, if delayed, would not be completed” by Dec. 13. That is the “safe harbor” deadline to guarantee Michigan’s 16 electoral votes are counted when the electoral college meets six days later.
“The fundamental right invoked by plaintiffs — the right to vote, and to have that vote conducted fairly and counted accurately — is the bedrock of our nation,” Goldsmith wrote. “Without elections that are conducted fairly — and perceived to be fairly conducted — public confidence in our political institutions will swiftly erode.”
Goldsmith was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2010.
Mark Brewer, an attorney representing Stein, told the Detroit Free Press “this is a victory for the voters of Michigan.”
Gisgie Gendreau, a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state, said officials were “reviewing the order” and had not decided whether to appeal.
During the three-hour hearing, Michigan officials argued that starting the recount immediately would be costly and that federal courts usually refrain from becoming involved in a state’s election procedures
The logistics of a statewide recount are so great, “it’s kind of like Eisenhower invading Europe on D-Day,” attorney Gary Gordon, representing the Michigan Republican Party, told the judge. “It’s a logistical nightmare.”
Attorney General Bill Schuette and Trump’s lawyer also sued to have the matter heard in state court.
Stein is seeking recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where President-elect Donald Trump leads over Hillary Clinton. If recounts resulted in all three traditional Democratic states switching to Clinton, she would win the presidency.
In Michigan, Trump, who gathered 2,279,543 votes, led Clinton, who earned 2,268,839, by 10,704 votes. Stein had 51,463 votes, or 1.1 percent, according to the Michigan State Board of Canvassers.
On Friday, the Michigan Board of Canvassers tied 2-2 on Trump’s objection to Stein’s recount request, meaning the recount would proceed. But under Michigan law, state officials must wait two business days after hearing objections to a recount petition before they can start counting.
Stein was planning a rally and news conference Monday at Trump Tower in New York on the recount process.
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