The Latest: Stein campaign denies illegal coordination
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Latest on presidential recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (all times local):
1:25 p.m.
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein is pushing back against charges from Wisconsin Republicans that she illegally coordinated with Democrat Hillary Clinton to raise money for recounts in three states.
Stein campaign manager David Cobb said in a statement Wednesday that "The recount effort is non-partisan and Stein is not coordinating with any other campaign."
Cobb says, "Any allegations to the contrary are fabrications." He says the Wisconsin Republican Party's complaint to the Federal Elections Commission "is nothing but a PR stunt to push a false narrative that will ultimately have no impact on the recount in Wisconsin."
The complaint contends that Clinton is the only person who could benefit from a recount and that she appears to have illegally helped Stein raise nearly $7 million for the recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
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1:45 p.m.
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein has requested a full hand recount of Michigan's presidential vote.
Stein requested the recount on Wednesday. She had already requested recounts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Republican Donald Trump won all three states. He defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by 10,704 votes out of nearly 4.8 million ballots cast. Stein alleges that irregularities and the potential for hacking into scanning devices call into question the results.
The Michigan recount could start as early as Friday.
Trump's victory is highly unlikely to be reversed in any of the states. But Stein says the recount will ensure the integrity of the election.
Republicans say the recount will cost taxpayers far more than the $973,000 Stein must pay when filing her recount petition.
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12:25 p.m.
Wisconsin's elections chief is telling local clerks that he knows they're frustrated with trying to complete a presidential recount in less than two weeks.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested the recount. It's slated to begin Thursday and must be completed by Dec. 13 or Congress could gain control of the state's electoral votes.
Commission Administrator Mike Haas held a teleconference with clerks Wednesday to walk them through final preparations.
Twice Haas acknowledged they're unhappy with conducting a recount during the holiday season on behalf of a candidate who got only 30,000 votes in Wisconsin. But he told them he hopes they've accepted that the recount must be conducted, by law, and that it will be done professionally.
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12 p.m.
The Wisconsin Republican Party alleges that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's recount effort in Wisconsin amounts to illegal coordination with Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The state Republican Party filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. The complaint comes the day before the scheduled start of the recount of Wisconsin's vote, won by Republican Donald Trump by less than 1 percentage point.
The complaint contends that Clinton is the only person who could benefit from a recount and that she appears to have illegally helped Stein raise nearly $7 million for the recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Spokeswomen for Stein and Clinton's campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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12:40 p.m.
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein plans to request a full hand recount of Michigan's presidential vote.
Stein plans to request the recount later Wednesday. She has already requested recounts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Republican Donald Trump won all three states. He defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by 10,704 votes out of nearly 4.8 million ballots cast. Stein alleges that irregularities and the potential for hacking into scanning devices call into question the results.
The Michigan recount could start as early as Friday.
Trump's victory is highly unlikely to be reversed in any of the states. But Stein says the recount will ensure the integrity of the election.
Republicans say the recount will cost taxpayers far more than the $973,000 Stein must pay when filing her recount petition.
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10:20 a.m.
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein will not be appealing a Wisconsin judge's ruling that the state's presidential recount can be done without hand counting every ballot.
Stein spokeswoman Margy Levinson said in an email Wednesday that the ruling made Tuesday night in Dane County Circuit Court would not be appealed. Levinson says given the time constraints, they want to focus resources on the recount that begins Thursday.
The majority of Wisconsin counties planned to do a hand recount of ballots cast even though the judge's ruling means they can choose to feed the ballots into tabulation machines to double check the counts.
Levinson says Stein's focus will be on verifying the vote on the ground and she encourages counties to voluntarily conduct a hand recount.
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8:50 a.m.
Wisconsin election officials are set to hold their last meeting with county clerks before launching a presidential recount.
The recount is set to start Thursday. The Wisconsin Election Commission plans to meet with the clerks via teleconference and an online seminar Wednesday morning. The agenda calls for discussing counting procedures, how to treat absentee ballots, how to review provisional ballots and how to track expenses.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested the recount, alleging without evidence that the state's electronic voting machines may have been hacked. The commission had to grant that request under state law. Stein also wanted all 72 counties to conduct the recount by hand, but the commission refused to order that and a Dane County judge affirmed that decision late Tuesday evening.