Michigan County Clerks Prepare for Possible Recount

Michigan’s Board of Canvassers has called the state for Donald Trump.

Trump won the state by .3%, a difference of just more than 11,000 votes

But in several Northern Michigan counties, it wasn’t even close for Hillary Clinton.

In Wexford County, he won with 10,000 votes compared to Clinton’s 4,436.

In Otsego County, 65% of voters went with Donald Trump, while 28% voted for Clinton.

9 & 10’s Blayke Roznowski and photojournalist Noah Jurik went there to see how they are handling the potential of a recount.

With the potential for an election recount looming in Michigan, local county clerks are already preparing.

The Otsego County clerk has been in the position for 10 years and she says, she has never been part of a recount.

"We’ve all kind of been given a heads up to kind of start planning," Otsego County clerk Suzy DeFeyter said. "There has to be like what they’re calling a core team members to kind of help with the procedure because it all has to be done by hand, hand counting."

The potential recount could have an impact on counties Trump won by a slim margin.

Leelanau County saw less than a 500 vote difference.

In Lake County, which President Obama won in 2012, was a little over 1,000 votes for Trump.

There was just over a 900 vote difference in Isabella County.

Even with those numbers, a political science professor at Central Michigan University says a recount likely won’t change anything.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if the vote totals change slightly," CMU political science professor and department chairperson Dr. David Jesuit said. "It’s very, very unlikely that this recount is going to result in the outcome going to anyone else other than Donald Trump."

What would be more interesting to Dr. David Jesuit would be if there was evidence of electronic tampering.

"It would be unprecedented," Dr. Jesuit said. "It would suggest that there’s a foreign power interested in subverting the electoral process."

But he says that’s also unlikely.

Clerks offices say a recount would not only be time consuming but also costly.

Precincts only get reimbursed $125.

"We’re hoping that we don’t have to, but we’ll see," DeFeyter said. "I mean, nobody wants to have to go through a recount."

Clerks say they should be notified by Wednesday if a recount will happen or not.