Donald Trump: Michigan Win Official Making Way For Recount Filing By Jill Stein

President-elect Donald Trump was officially confirmed the winner of Michigan’s 16 electoral votes this afternoon, as reported by Patch. NPR notes that Michigan is the last state in the union to certify the results of the 2016 election, nearly three weeks after final ballots were cast.

According to the Michigan Board of Canvassers, the Trump-Michigan numbers bettered those of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 10,704: 2,279,543 to 2,268,839. The narrow margin is reported to make the 2016 presidential race the tightest in the history of the state.

Further, with today’s final results from Michigan, it is expected that Donald Trump will win the U.S. Electoral College 306 to 232. Despite Trump’s expected Electoral College win, Hillary Clinton is reported to have captured the popular vote, with more than 2 million more votes than the president-elect.

Former President George H.W. Bush was the last Republican to win the State of Michigan, in 1988.

Patch notes that the president-elect could potentially contest a recount expected to be requested by Dr. Jill Stein and the Green Party with the backing of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Wednesday is said to be the deadline for requesting a recount.

While Donald Trump has not formally indicated that he intends to contest a recount, it has been noted that he has been critical of Dr. Stein’s efforts.

Stein and the Green Party won 51,463 votes in Michigan. The Green Party presidential nominee has raised $6.5 million to fund recount efforts, having signaled her intention to request one in Michigan, and having already begun the recount process in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Donald Trump wins Michigan's 16 electoral votes, bringing the final electoral tally to Trump 306, Clinton 232 https://t.co/jOauYyVeuX pic.twitter.com/l5yOqfzxGf

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 28, 2016

Trump could contest a recount for seven days following its filing; doing so could cause the wait for the results of the official outcome of the election to run “well into December, close to the Electoral College vote” before being available. The request would be filed with the Michigan Secretary of State.

“If the objections are overturned by the board, the recount can commence after the second business day following the issuance of the board’s decision,” Fred Woodhams with the Michigan Secretary of State’s office was quoted.

Trump’s Michigan campaign manager, Scott Hagerstrom, stated that if a recount is requested, the President-elect and his advisers would investigate “all options,” but that speculation on the incoming administration’s course of action before the recount is actually filed is “hard.”

The Electoral College vote is scheduled for December 19, according to the college’s website.

“We have not heard directly from Jill Stein’s campaign,” Chris Thomas, Michigan’s state elections director was quoted. “We are prepared to move forward at this time if we receive any type of recount petition by Wednesday afternoon of this week.”

President-elect Trump has previously referred to Jill Stein’s efforts to organize and fund a recount as “a scam,” as reported by the Inquisitr.

Dr. Stein herself, and other observers, such as Cenk Uygur with The Young Turks, have voiced the opinion that a recount most likely will not affect the outcome of the election.

“There’s no harm in a recount,” Cenk Uygur stated.

Mark Elias, a lawyer with the Hillary Clinton campaign, stated that the camp felt an “obligation” to the 64 million citizens who voted for the Democrat to take part in “ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count” is obtained and reported.

On Sunday, Donald Trump made claims that he should have also won the popular vote and that “millions” of Americans illegally voted for Hillary Clinton, as reported by NPR. The organization described Trump’s claims as “unfounded” and observed that the story appears to have originated with InfoWars, an alt-right news outlet.

PolitiFact has rated President-elect Trump’s claim about millions of illegal votes as “False.”

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]