Michigan Lawmakers Push Law to Force Jill Stein to Pay 100% for Her ‘Frivolous’ Recount

December 7, 2016 in News by RBN Staff

Michigan lawmakers are pushing legislation that will force future candidates who lose by more than 5% to pay 100% for frivolous recounts.
That sounds fair.

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 23: Jill Stein waits to speak before announcing that she will seek the Green Party’s presidential nomination, at the National Press Club, June 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. Stein also ran for president in 2012 on the Green Party ticket. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Stein will pay nearly $1 million for her Michigan recount leaving taxpayers to foot the the rest of the bill that is expected to be as much as $12 million.

Conservative Review reported:

Michigan lawmakers are considering legislation to discourage futile recount efforts by candidates who lose their election bids by an incontestable amount, forcing the candidate to foot the bill for the recount.

Introduced by Republican state Sen. Lisa Lyons (R-Alto) last week, the bill, H.B. 6097, would make a candidate who lost by more than 5 percent pay for the full cost of the recount for each precinct referred to (there are 6,300 precincts in Michigan) in his or her petition. The bill passed on a 5-3 vote in the House Elections committee Tuesday, and now moves to the state’s full House of Representatives for consideration.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein filed for a hand recount of all 4.8 million votes in Michigan (among others) in the Nov. 8 presidential election, citing unreliable voting machines and supposed irregularities.

According to the Detroit Free Press, current state law requires candidates who lose their race by greater than 0.5 percent to pay $125 per precinct for the recount, while the state pays for the rest. For Jill Stein, that meant a $973,750 check written to the state of Michigan. But the Great Lakes State is by no means coming out in the black on the deal, as the cost is expected to be as much as $12 million.

The legislation reads:

(2) IF 1 CANDIDATE IS TO BE ELECTED TO THE OFFICE AND THE OFFICIAL CANVASS OF VOTES SHOWS THAT THE PERCENTAGE DIFFERENTIAL SEPARATING THE WINNING CANDIDATE AND THE PETITIONER IS MORE THAN 5.0% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTES CAST IN THE RACE, THE PETITIONER SHALL DEPOSIT WITH THE CLERK 100% OF THE ESTIMATED COST OF THE RECOUNT FOR EACH PRECINCT REFERRED TO IN HIS OR HER PETITION. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBSECTION, THE WINNING CANDIDATE IN A PRIMARY FOR A NONPARTISAN OFFICE WHERE ONLY 1 CANDIDATE WILL BE ELECTED MEANS THE CANDIDATE NOMINATED WITH THE LESSER NUMBER OF VOTES.