Judge Rules Against Attempt To Halt Wisconsin Presidential Recount

A federal judge has ruled against an attempt to halt Wisconsin’s presidential recount.

Judge James Peterson denied the request from two super PACs that supported President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign Friday morning.

“It’s crystal clear to me that I don’t have the basis to stop the recount,” Peterson said. “The recount looks like it’s going as the state said: smoothly.”

The lawsuit claimed Wisconsin’s recount violates equal protection requirements, puts the state at risk of missing a federal elections reporting deadline and may cast doubt on the legitimacy of Trump’s victory.

The plaintiffs dropped the equal protection argument early Friday morning in a brief to the court, instead choosing to focus on the latter two arguments. In brief remarks Friday, the plaintiffs expressed concern that Wisconsin’s electoral votes could be endangered if the recount results are challenged after a federal elections reporting deadline on Tuesday.

Peterson rebuffed that argument, saying the state’s electors would still be able to cast their votes for Trump, regardless of any pending challenges or litigation.

“I have, at this point, have not been persuaded by any submission you’ve made that Wisconsin’s electoral votes aren’t going to be counted,” Peterson said.

In court for less than a half hour and judge James Peterson says he’s going to deny request to halt Wisconsin presidential recount.

— Laurel White (@lkwhite) December 9, 2016

The head of the state Elections Commission applauded the court ruling.

“We’re happy with the decision,” said Michael Haas, state Elections Commission administrator. “It didn’t seem like a close call to us in the first place.”

Haas said, as of Friday morning, only 13 percent of ballots statewide remain to be counted in the recount.

“We’re happy that there was not an additional complication thrown in at the end here,” Haas said.

After the ruling, lawyers for the plaintiffs said they were pleased to see the recount is proceeding without problems.

“I thought the judge gave very careful consideration to the case,” said Michael Morley, a lawyer representing the Trump-supporting super PACs. “He clearly took the arguments very seriously, and we appreciate the time and concern that the court showed.”

The recount is on schedule to be completed by Tuesday.