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Tag: recount
arizona election officials

Maricopa Officials Shoot Down  Arizona 'Audit' Falsehoods

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - Election officials in Arizona's most populous county found nearly every conclusion in a partisan "audit" of Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election to be misleading or false, according to an official rebuttal released on Wednesday.

The Maricopa County Elections Department's 93-page report is an attempt to address dozens of claims made by Trump's allies in the Republican Party in their so-called "full forensic audit" aimed at casting doubt on his defeat in the battleground state.

While last year's Republican-led review had already been widely discredited by election experts as biased and procedurally flawed, the report, titled "Correcting The Record," marked the first detailed response by county officials.

"We determined that nearly every finding included faulty analysis, inaccurate claims, misleading conclusions and a lack of understanding of federal and state election laws," the report says of the audit, which Arizona Republican senators contracted out to a private company called Cyber Ninjas.

According to the report, the county analysis identified 22 claims that were misleading, 41 that included flawed or misstated analysis, and 13 that were demonstrably false.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, carried Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, by about 45,000 votes, making it critical to his narrow win over Trump in November 2020. Biden's victory was confirmed by a hand recount and multiple post-election tests for accuracy. No evidence has emerged of the widespread fraud that Trump and his allies falsely alleged.

Led by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, Republicans nevertheless pushed for a comprehensive review of the election, including a hand recount and examination of tabulation equipment. They released a final report in September that found a vote tally largely matching the official results, although they made several claims of alleged anomalies.

For example, the Cyber Ninjas used information from a third-party commercial database to claim that some 33,000 people may have voted illegally because they moved prior to the election and no longer lived at the address on file with the county.

According to the county's report, Cyber Ninjas flagged problems by using "soft match" methods that relied on basic data points such as first name, last name, and birth year, leading to the misidentification of people as illegally casting votes.

"Our review did not find any voter ineligible to vote from their residential address during the November 2020 General Election and found no evidence of double voting," the report said.

The partisan audit in Arizona was part of a larger effort by Republicans to undermine faith in the 2020 election and gain more control over the voting process. Since the election, several Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed laws curbing ballot access or placing great power over election administration in the hands of partisan officials.

Maricopa County election officials are scheduled to detail the findings of their report at a public meeting on Wednesday of the county Board of Supervisors.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

U.S. Appeals Court Refuses To Stop Michigan Recount

U.S. Appeals Court Refuses To Stop Michigan Recount

(Reuters) – A federal appeals court refused on Tuesday to stop a recount of the Nov. 8 presidential election vote in Michigan that is being sought by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

The ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a decision by a lower court judge, came one day after Stein sued in federal court in Pennsylvania to try to force a statewide recount of U.S. presidential votes there.

Stein also pushed for a recount that is under way in Wisconsin, which with Michigan and Pennsylvania, was key to Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

The Green Party candidate’s moves are unlikely to change the outcome of the election but she has maintained they are necessary to ensure the integrity of voting systems.

Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin defied their recent history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates and handed Trump narrow wins that ultimately gave him victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, filed a lawsuit on Friday to halt the requested recount in the state, which Trump won by about 10,700 votes.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)

IMAGE: Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein speaks during a news conference outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S. December 5, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Stein Vows To Pursue Pennsylvania Recount In Court

Stein Vows To Pursue Pennsylvania Recount In Court

By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) – Green Party candidate Jill Stein late Saturday vowed to bring her fight for a recount of votes cast in Pennsylvania in the U.S. presidential election to federal court, after a state judge ordered her campaign to post a $1 million bond.

“The Stein campaign will continue to fight for a statewide recount in Pennsylvania,” Jonathan Abady, lead counsel to Stein’s recount efforts, said in a statement.

Saying it has become clear that “the state court system is so ill-equipped to address this problem,” the statement said “we must seek federal court intervention.”

The Stein campaign said it will file for emergency relief in the Pennsylvania effort in federal court on Monday, “demanding a statewide recount on constitutional grounds.”

The bond was set by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania a day after representatives of President-elect Donald Trump requested a $10 million bond, according to court papers.

The court gave the petitioners until 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Monday to post the bond, but said it could modify the amount if shown good cause. Instead, Stein’s campaign withdrew.

“Petitioners are regular citizens of ordinary means. They cannot afford to post the $1,000,000 bond required by the court,” wrote attorney Lawrence Otter, informing the court of the decision to withdraw.

Stein, who garnered about 1 percent of the presidential vote on Nov. 8, has also sought recounts in Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump won narrow victories over Democrat Hillary Clinton in all three states, part of the industrial heartland of the country until manufacturers started leaving for Mexico and other low-wage countries.

Trump and his allies have attempted to stop the initiatives in the states, calling the recount effort a “scam.” Clinton’s campaign has said it would take part in the recounts.

“The judge’s outrageous demand that voters pay such an exorbitant figure is a shameful, unacceptable barrier to democratic participation,” Stein said in a statement. “No voter in America should be forced to pay thousands of dollars to know if her or his vote was counted.”

Stein said she planned to announce “the next step” in the recount effort on Monday at a previously scheduled news conference at Trump Tower in New York City.

She said recounts already under way in some Pennsylvania counties would continue. The state’s election commission had approved recounts in 75 precincts where voters requested one, but refused to allow a full forensic audit of voting machines.

Even if all the recounts were to take place, the overall election outcome would not likely change. The race is decided by the Electoral College, or a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote.

Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, with 306. Recounts would have to flip the result to Clinton in all three states to change the result.

In the popular vote, Clinton had more than 2.5 million votes over Trump, the independent Cook Political Report said.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Chris Michaud in New York; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Bill Rigby, Tom Brown and Nick Macfie)

IMAGE: Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks at a campaign rally in Chicago, September 8, 2016.   REUTERS/Jim Young

Trump Supporters Try To Block Recounts

Trump Supporters Try To Block Recounts

By David Ingram and Susan Heavey

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump moved on Friday to halt the Green Party’s requests for long-shot recounts of the presidential votes in three states where Trump, a Republican, won with narrow victories.

Lawsuits were pending in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three “Rust Belt” states which bucked their history of supporting Democrats and gave Trump thin wins in the Nov. 8 election.

The Green Party has said its requests for recounts in those states are focused on ensuring the integrity of the U.S. voting system and not on changing the result of the election.

Even if the recounts take place, they are extremely unlikely to change the overall outcome of the election, in which Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who garnered only about 1 percent of the vote, has said the recount campaign is not targeted at Trump or Clinton.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, filed a lawsuit on Friday to halt the requested recount in his state, where Trump won with a margin of roughly 10,700 votes over Clinton.

Recounting all of the state’s votes “threatens to silence all Michigan votes for president” because of an impending federal deadline to finalize results, Schuette said in a statement.

In Wisconsin, where the recount is already underway, a federal judge on Friday rejected a request for an emergency stay by the Trump-supporting political action committee Great America PAC. U.S. District Judge James Peterson scheduled a hearing for Dec. 9 to consider whether to halt the recount at that time.

The lawsuit filed by the PAC cited as legal precedent the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore decision that ended the 2000 election and Florida recount.

The presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, or a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote. Federal law requires states to resolve disputes over the appointment of electors by Dec. 13.

Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, with 306 electoral votes, and the recount would have to flip the result to Clinton in all three states to change the overall result. In the popular vote, Clinton had a margin of more than 2.5 million votes over Trump, the Cook Political Report said.

Schuette also criticized Stein for the potential expense of a recount, although Stein said last week that she had raised $3.5 million to cover some costs. A Schuette spokeswoman said on Friday that Stein had contributed $787,500, but the recount would cost some $5 million.

Stein has scheduled a news conference for Monday at Trump Tower in New York City.

“We won’t stand down as Donald Trump and his allies seek to frivolously obstruct the legal processes set up to ensure the accuracy, security and fairness of our elections,” Stein said in a statement on Friday.

Michigan’s recount is expected to begin on Wednesday, barring court action, after the state’s board of canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on Friday on a motion objecting to the recount, the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office said.

The board of canvassers is required to respond in writing to Schuette’s lawsuit by midday on Tuesday.

The Trump campaign’s own attorneys have also moved to block recount efforts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

A Pennsylvania court has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning in Harrisburg, the state capital. In an order on Friday, the court told lawyers for both sides to be prepared to talk about whether enough evidence of wrongdoing exists to keep the case going.

According to Stein’s website on Friday, the Green Party had raised $6.8 million so far for the recount and has a goal of $9.5 million.

Lawyers for Clinton have said they would take part in the Wisconsin recount effort to ensure her campaign is legally represented, and that they would do the same if necessary in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump won Wisconsin with a margin of roughly 22,000 votes over Clinton, and in Pennsylvania he won with a margin of about 49,500 votes.

(Reporting by David Ingram in New York and Susan Heavey in Washington; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler)

IMAGE: Michigan Attorney General William “Bill” Schuette speaks in Boston, Massachusetts, December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter/File Photo