A federal judge in the United States has stopped the recount of nearly 5 million ballots in Michigan, ruling that defeated Green Party candidate Jill Stein has no constitutional right to demand another look at ballots.
The ruling, issued on Wednesday evening, seals Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s narrow electoral victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the traditionally blue state.
US District Judge Mark Goldsmith who ordered the recount to begin effectively on Monday ended it two days later, siding with a state appeals court in halting the effort.
On Tuesday, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on 8 November, didn’t have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isn’t an “aggrieved candidate.”
The appeals court said Stein should not have been allowed to demand a recount, agreeing with the Republican Party attorney general who argued that the three-day recount must end because the candidate had no grounds to mount the challenge.
“Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court’s ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan legislature intended by the term ‘aggrieved’, plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount,” Goldsmith said of Stein and allies.
The ruling comes after Stein filed for a recount in the state, which Democratic presidential candidate Clinton narrowly lost to Trump.
But, Trump filed a lawsuit on Friday in the Michigan Court of Appeals, seeking to block the recount.
The Green Party candidate’s lawyers said on Wednesday they were "deeply disappointed" with the court order.
"The history of this country is one where federal courts step in to protect the constitutional voting rights of all Americans, especially when they are under attack in the states," Hayley Horowitz and Jessica Clarke said in a statement. "Well today, they are under brutal attack."
They denounced the Republican billionaire’s attempts to suppress the vote recount as a "stunning about-face, even by Trump's own standards."
"Recounts are not about politics or parties; they are about our democracy," the statement said.
"By stopping the recount in Michigan, Trump and Michigan Republicans are explicitly stripping the constitutional rights of Michigan voters straight from under them. Worse, they are continuing to undermine confidence in the American political system by denying voters a chance to be reassured that the election results were accurate,” it added.
Stein had also filed for recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in addition to Michigan — three traditionally blue states that president-elect won with a razor-thin margin.
However, the Stein campaign dropped a ballot recount bid in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Stein’s lawyer Lawrence M. Otter withdrew the lawsuit filed with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, saying, "Petitioners are regular citizens of ordinary means. They cannot afford to post the $1,000,000 bond required by the Court."
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