Kathleen Gray and John Wisely

Detroit Free Press

WATERFORD — "Welcome to today’s recount."

The deceptively simple proclamation from Oakland County's election director, Joe Rozell, Monday kicked off the monumental task of recounting nearly 4.8 million ballots, including 668,925 ballots in Oakland, cast for president in Michigan. The recount also began in Ingham County.

Wayne and Macomb counties are scheduled to begin their recounts Tuesday morning.

It's a process that began a week ago when the Board of State Canvassers certified the results of the Nov. 8 election, which showed that Republican Donald Trump won the state with a 10,704-vote margin over Democrat Hillary Clinton. While each candidate received more than 2.2 million votes each in Michigan, Green Party candidate Jill Stein finished a distant fourth with 51,463 votes.

But even with that small margin, Stein asked for a recount of Michigan's vote: not because the results are likely to change, her campaign said, but to ensure that the votes were counted accurately and ultimately ensure the integrity of the election.

Sitting in a sprawling conference room at the Oakland County Intermediate School District, several hundred people working as counters, observers and challengers first watched a 17-minute training video. Then, fueled by pizza and caffeine and paid $150 a day, the recount teams methodically removed stacks and stacks of ballots from ballot containers and separated them into seven piles -- one each for Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party Jill Stein, Natural Law Emidio Soltysik, U.S. Taxpayers Darrell Castle and "Other" for all the ballots where there was a write-in a candidate.

► Related: Judge orders immediate start of Michigan recount

► Related: Experts: Federal judge's ruling ties hands of Michigan courts on recount

Election workers wearing neon yellow and blaze orange vests traversed the room to provide help to any counters who needed assistance or to help mediate a challenge.

As the afternoon progressed, a low din of chatter filled the room along with the constant sound of ballots being flipped as they were counted.

Bill Charron, 72, a captain of precinct 18 in Bloomfield Township, and poll worker Cindy Rose, of Birmingham, served as one recount team.

The ballots showed the passion surrounding the 2016 presidential election, Charron said.

"One guy wrote in 'Jesus' for every office," Charron said.

Daphne Tumareng, 43, of Franklin came to the counting room to observe the process and brought her 3-month-old son, Auden, with her.

"I just want to ensure the integrity of this election," she said. "There have been a lot of questions raised on all sides, including from the president-elect."

Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown said her staff wasn't fazed by the recount work.

"We were ready to go last week," she said. "This is what we do."

The votes from each precinct will be tallied and compared to the Nov. 8 election day totals over the next several weeks — seven days a week — in counties across the state.

Originally scheduled to start on Friday, the recount was put on hold when Trump’s lawyers and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who argued that the recount was a waste of time and money because Stein has acknowledged that the recount is not expected to change the election result, filed an objection to the recount on Thursday. On Friday, the state's Board of Canvassers denied the objection, meaning the recount could go forward after a mandated two-business-day waiting period. Trump and Schuette also have filed lawsuits with the State Court of Appeals in an effort to stop the recount.

But U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, after a rare Sunday hearing, ruled shortly after midnight Monday that the recount should begin by noon Monday, causing local clerks to scramble for workers who didn't think the recount would start until Wednesday due to the waiting period. However, according to some legal experts, Goldsmith's federal ruling takes precedence over state law. And it likely would take a ruling from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the recount at this point.

"I went to bed last night and I only needed you to 3 o'clock today for training," Rozell told workers before they started counting ballots. "And I woke up this morning and the game changed.​"

John Pirich, one of the attorneys for Trump, said he came to the first day of counting to see the “Herculean task” in person.

“Look around you, we’ve got 300 to 400 people. There’s noise everywhere and chaos in the sense that mistakes are going to be made and that’s what we’re trying to make sure doesn’t happen,” he said. “It’s a very, very daunting process.”

Under state law, Stein paid $125 per precinct to have the votes recounted for a total cost of $973,250. But the actual cost is expected to be much higher. Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said because the county has 135 precincts, the county will be reimbursed $16,875. But with recount workers getting paid $125 per day for an 11-hour shift, plus various other costs, Ingham's actual price tag is going to be more than $50,000.

And costs incurred by counties over the $125 per precinct tag will be the responsibility of the counties.

In the Legislature, State Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, has introduced a bill that would require candidates who request a recount and who have received less than 5% of the vote to pay the entire bill for the recount. The bill has language to make it retroactive so that Stein would have to pick up the entire cost of the recount. The bill is awaiting votes.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal