Jill Stein

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2016 file photo. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein delivers remarks at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Green Party-backed voters dropped a court case Saturday night, Dec. 3, 2016, that had sought to force a statewide recount of Pennsylvania's Nov. 8 presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump, in what Green Party presidential candidate Stein had framed as an effort to explore whether voting machines and systems had been hacked and the election result manipulated. (Christopher Dolan/The Citizens' Voice via AP, File)

Update, 12:15 a.m.: U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith has ruled the recount should begin immediately, ordering state officials begin the process noon Monday.

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A federal ruling on whether Michigan's presidential recount should begin immediately or early next week is expected Sunday evening as legal drama over the effort continues.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein filed the case in federal court late Friday in an attempt to speed up the recount she requested, which is currently scheduled to begin either late Tuesday or Wednesday of next week after the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on an objection from President-elect Donald Trump.

State law dictates a recount should begin two business days after the board rules on whether an objection is valid, but attorneys for Stein argued in a suit filed with the U.S. District Court in Detroit that the recount should begin immediately to ensure the recount is complete by the federal "safe harbor" deadline of Dec. 13, six days before the Electoral College meets.

Stein's filing claimed further delay in the recount is "effectively denying the right to vote."

In a Sunday federal court hearing in Detroit, Michigan Elections Director Chris Thomas testified to the difficulty of conducting a recount two business days after the election was certified.

Thomas said his office will push to have a hand-recount of 4.8 million ballots cast in November's presidential election completed before a Dec. 13 deadline, telling the court he "will certainly take a shot."

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said his decision would come Sunday following the hearing, although a ruling has not yet been filed by 9:45 p.m.

Late Sunday evening, Attorney General Bill Schuette also made a filing in federal court in relation to Stein's suit, arguing Stein is not entitled to a recount under the federal Constitution.

"No Michigan voters have been, or are being, disenfranchised if a recount does not occur," Schuette's filing read. "Indeed, the logical extension of Stein's argument is that it is always unconstitutional not to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money to conduct a recount--for every election, for every office, and in every state, where there is any remote, theoretical possibility of hacking despite a total lack of evidence. That is not, and has never been, the law."

Both Schuette and attorneys for Trump have also filed motions in the Michigan Supreme Court in an effort to stop the recount from happening.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes in Michigan. Stein received about 1 percent of the vote.

The Green Party also is seeking recounts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.