The Latest: Michigan wants recount halted if judge rules


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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (all times local):

5 p.m.

The Michigan elections board has ordered an immediate halt to the presidential recount if a federal judge lifts his previous order that the recount occur.

The Board of State Canvassers issued the instruction Wednesday in a 3-1 vote. The move is intended as a way to quickly stop the recount if the judge rules before the board meets again Thursday morning.

Republican Colleen Pero says the recount is underway more than 20 counties and is set to start in 13 more counties Thursday.

The board acted a day after the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered it to dismiss Green Party candidate Jill Stein's recount petition.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, who heard arguments Wednesday, plans to issue a written decision, but he didn't say when.

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3:20 p.m.

Wisconsin's presidential recount is more than 70 percent complete, and Democrat Hillary Clinton has gained just 82 votes on President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump won Wisconsin by more than 22,000 votes.

The latest results were reported Wednesday by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. It says all counties remain on track to finish their work by the state-imposed deadline of 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein is pushing for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

In Wisconsin, 34 of 72 counties have completed their work and the others are all nearing completion. More than 2.1 million votes out of the nearly 3 million cast have been recounted.

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3:05 p.m.

A judge has rejected a Green Party request to allow software experts to inspect Philadelphia's election systems for evidence they were hacked.

The judge's refusal Wednesday comes after Philadelphia's election board rejected the idea, too.

It is part of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's efforts to force recounts of the presidential election results in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Republican Donald Trump narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in all three states.

A Friday federal court hearing is scheduled in a separate Green Party request. The party says an examination of central voting system software in six Pennsylvania counties using different types of paperless electronic voting machines would take two or three days.

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1:20 p.m.

A federal judge in Detroit has heard arguments over whether he should drop his decision that started the recount of Michigan's presidential votes.

Judge Mark Goldsmith told lawyers Wednesday he would make a written decision. Lawyers for the state Republican Party and Attorney General Bill Schuette told Goldsmith that his earlier ruling is moot after the Michigan appeals court said the Green Party candidate didn't qualify for a recount.

The appeals court said Jill Stein won just 1 percent of the vote and isn't an "aggrieved" candidate under state law. More than 20 counties so far have been recounting ballots since Monday.

The appeals court told the Michigan elections board to reconsider Stein's petition and reject it. The board plans to meet after Goldsmith makes a decision. Goldsmith's order started the recount this week. The issue for him was timing — not whether a recount was appropriate.

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10:45 a.m.

The Michigan elections board will wait to decide whether to end the state's presidential recount until it sees what a federal judge does.

The Board of State Canvassers met Wednesday, a day after the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered it to dismiss Green Party candidate Jill Stein's petition. The board recessed shortly before the federal judge was to hold a hearing in Detroit on stopping the recount, which began Monday.

Stein lawyer Mark Brewer says the ruling wasn't given immediate effect, so the board is "under no mandate to do anything." He says stopping the recount would increase voter suspicion about election integrity.

Stein is appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Trump attorney Eric Doster says it's "pretty clear" the board must end the recount because fourth-place finisher Stein isn't an "aggrieved" candidate.

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1:30 a.m.

A federal judge could decide whether to end Michigan's presidential recount after the state's second-highest court said the Green Party nominee was ineligible to seek a second look at millions of ballots.

The federal judge who on Monday ordered the recount to begin will hold a hearing Wednesday on whether to stop it. The state elections board also is meeting Wednesday, a day after the Michigan appeals court ordered it to dismiss Jill Stein's recount petition. The court noted that she got 1 percent of the vote and has no chance of catching Republican Donald Trump, who narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in the state.

Meanwhile, a court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania. A recount in Wisconsin so far shows Trump gaining votes over Clinton.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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