Trump Backers Ask Courts To Halt Or Prevent 3 State Recounts

Workers begin a statewide presidential election recount Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Milwaukee. The first candidate-driven statewide recount of a presidential election in 16 years began Thursday in Wisconsin, a state that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point over Hillary Clinton after polls long predicted a Clinton victory. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Morry Gash / Associated Press

LANSING, Mich.— President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters moved Friday to prevent or halt election recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, involving the courts less than two weeks before the states would have to complete the tasks to meet a federal deadline to certify their election results.

The legal actions seeking to block or halt the recounts in three states Trump narrowly won could cause delays that would make them extremely difficult or impossible to complete on time. Even if the recounts happen, though, none would be expected to give Democrat Hillary Clinton enough votes to emerge as the winner.

The recounts were requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who says they’re necessary to ensure that voting machines weren’t hacked, even though there’s no evidence that they were. Critics say Stein is simply trying to raise money and her political profile while building a donor database.