Updated. President-elect Donald J. Trump's campaign officially
 objected Thursday to Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s request
 for a laborious hand-recount of the state’s nearly 4.8 million
 ballots. Trump was declared the winner of the state’s 16
 electoral votes by a margin of 10,704 votes on Monday.
The campaign said Michigan election officials should not
 grant "this lawless, insulting request."
Further, the campaign said in the objection that "voters should
 not risk having the Electoral College door knocked off its
 hinges all because a 1 [percent] candidate is dissatisfied
 with the election’s outcome. Given her tiny vote total, (Green
Party presidential candidate Jill) Stein does not and could
not possibly allege a good faith belief that she may have won
 the state of Michigan."
Stein filed her recount request Wednesday, along with a check
 for $973,250 to cover the costs to recount ballots in Michigan’s
 6,300 precincts. The Green Party candidate, who received
 negligible support among Michigan voters, has never said
 her outcome would change. Rather, she has said she wants
 to ensure that all votes were counted.
Stein and her attorneys have acknowledged there is no evidence
 of fraud or impropriety but raised questions about 85,000
 ballots with “blank votes” in the presidential race — more
 than enough to make up for the difference separating Trump
and Clinton.
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said Wednesday the recount
 will cost more than $5 million, most of it to be borne by
 Michigan taxpayers. The state Republican party went further,
suggesting costs could soar to $12 million.
The recount was expected to begin Friday, but Trump’s 
request will delay it, The Detroit News reported. The state
Board of Canvassers could rule on the request by 9:30 a.m.
 Friday, but even then the recount can't start for two business
 days.
Election officials in Oakland and Ingham counties had hoped
 to start hand-counting the ballots on Friday, the Detroit Free
 Press reported.



Now it appears unlikely that the recount — if it is allowed —
will be completed by Dec. 10.
Trump in the past has been critical of the recount request,
 calling it “ridiculous” and “a scam.”
“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less
than 1 percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot
 in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which
 she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount," the
-elect said in a statement.
Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Michigan
 Republican Party, has called the request by Stein a “temper
tantrum” that won't change the outcome of the vote.

More Patch Coverage on Recounts

The recount requests came after a prominent group of election
attorneys and computer scientists, including University of
 Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman,
claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the
election results in the three battleground states could have
 been hacked.
Stein has also made requests for recounts in Wisconsin and
 Pennsylvania. Stein lost a bid for a hand-recount in Wisconsin,
 but a majority of the counties plan to pursue that option, their
 right under Wisconsin law. In Pennsylvania, at least six
 counties have received recount petitions, but the situation
in the Keystone State is more complicated than in Michigan
and Wisconsin.
Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons