Kathleen Gray

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING — The state Board of Canvassers voted 3-1 to tell the state's director of elections to stop a recount of presidential ballots if a U.S. District Judge rules that the recount should stop.

The board began their day Wednesday by going into closed session to determine what they need to do in light of a state Court of Appeals ruling that they shouldn't have allowed a recount of nearly 4.8 million ballots cast for president go forward.

The board recessed initially until 1 p.m. to wait for a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, who ordered the recount to go forward by noon Monday. At 1:30, the board recessed until 4 p.m. while they continued to wait for a ruling from Goldsmith, who said he will issue a written opinion on the recount.

When they reconvened at 4 p.m. - still without a ruling from Goldsmith - Colleen Pero, one of the Republicans on the Board of Canvassers said that they had already given the Secretary of State authority to run the recount and they should give them authority to stop it so that an estimated 2,600 county workers don't head to their counting stations Thursday morning. By Thursday, 34 counties will be recounting the ballots cast for president.

"I know that they have it in their schedule, but do they have it in their budget to pay for it," Pero said. "They can certainly be doing other things."

Julie Matuzak, one of the Democratic members of the board, said the clerks were already scheduled to head back to recount work on Thursday and there was no harm in waiting until Thursday to consider Goldsmith's ruling. But she ended up voting with the Republicans because, "It was clear they were going to hold us hostage until they got their way."

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Mark Brewer, an attorney for Stein, told the Board that the motion was way too speculative and could be open to interpretation.

"This motion is very speculative on what may be issued by the court," Brewer said. "I don't think you can take this action until you see exactly what the court says."

And besides, the recount is already showing problems with the recount that should be reason enough to continue, he added.

"We have seen already seen voters disenfranchised on election day whose votes we’re just now counting. We’re seeing many precincts unrecountable. And we’ve seen precincts with large discrepancies," Brewer said. "These are important revelations. They serve a very important public purpose. For the first time, people are allowed to see inside the election machinery. To stop it at this point would only make suspicion of this election worse."

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But Eric Doster, an attorney for Trump, said the remarkable thing shown by the recount is how disinterested the Stein observers are in the actual recount of ballots.

"What I do find remarkable about this recount is the absolute indifference of her observers to her interests. At no time during this recount have any of these Stein representatives made any challenges on behalf of Dr. Stein," he said. "In Ingham County, the Stein observers made five challenges and they were either challenging votes for President-elect Trump or votes not given to Secretary Clinton."

Pero said she hopes the board will rule quickly after Goldsmith considers motions to stop the recount, in order to ensure that recount workers don't travel to their county's counting sites needlessly. She noted that the Board is reconvening at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and can make a stop to the recount official.

Vevay Township Clerk JoAnne Kean told the board that she is passionate about elections, but her work on the recount is unpaid, leaving her having to work extra hours to get township business done.

"There are many, many township clerks that are being inconvenienced by continuing on, so the sooner you can get your work done, we the clerks would ever so much thank you," she said.

Brewer said the Stein campaign has appealed the state Court of Appeals ruling order the Board of Canvassers to stop the recount, but there has been no indication yet when the Supreme Court will hold that hearing.

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