The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday against former Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s appeal to restart a recount of presidential election votes in the swing state. The court’s 3-2 decision is the final say on the matter, killing all remaining efforts to recount ballots.
“(Stein) failed to allege that she has been harmed or that her legal rights have been infringed in any way whatsoever. Because she has not done so, petitioner failed to satisfy the statutory requirement of alleging that she was aggrieved as required by MCL 168.879(1)(b),” according to the statement.
The federal judge who ordered the recount in Michigan dropped his decision Wednesday evening, halting Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s push for a second look at ballots in the swing state.
U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith made the announcement after hearing arguments Wednesday about whether a recount of 4.8 million votes was a proper course of action.
Goldsmith granted Stein’s request to accelerate the recount on Monday after she put into motion a recount push in Michigan, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in order to confirm the integrity of the vote and raised millions of dollars to cover the costs (Stein paid $973,250 for the Michigan recount). State law in Michigan requires a candidate requesting a recount who lost by more than 0.5 percent of the vote (Stein only got about 1 percent of the vote) must pay $125 per precinct, while the state covers the rest. The recount would have potentially cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
On Tuesday, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the state’s Board of State Canvassers to reject Stein’s recount, because she was not a top finisher in the race and there was no way to overturn the election result. At about the same time, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, considering a different aspect of the issue, ruled in favor of the recount. In light of the contrasting decisions and the superior position of the 6th Circuit, court proceedings were allowed to continue.
Republican candidate Donald Trump narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by just over 10,000 votes.
