Wisconsin judge refuses request to recount presidential votes by hand News
Wisconsin judge refuses request to recount presidential votes by hand

A judge for the Dane County Circuit Court [official website] on Tuesday denied an attempt to have a recount of votes from the presidential election counted by hand. The recount is set to begin Thursday. Green Party [official website] candidate Jill Stein [campaign website] had filed the request [Wisconsin State Journal report] after protesting the validity of the state’s electronic tabulating machines and claiming they may have been hacked. For a recount to be done by hand, the requesting candidate must provide “clear and convincing evidence” that the recounting machines will produce an incorrect result and that there is a “substantial probability” that recounting by hand will produce a more correct result. Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn [official profile] ruled that Stein did not meet this standard, instead relying on speculation that the machines could have been hacked. Now each individual Wisconsin county may decide if they will use electronic or manual means to recount. The Wisconsin Elections Commission [official website] Administrator Mike Hass has stated that only 19 counties plan on using the machines, where the other 53 plan on doing the recount by hand.

The recount of the 2016 Presidential election is not exclusive to Wisconsin, where Donald Trump [official profile] won by 22,000 votes. Earlier this week Stein and the Green Party filed suit over a recount [JURIST report] in the battleground Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Last week Hillary Clinton [campaign website] officially joined [JURIST report] the Green Party’s recount efforts in Wisconsin. Also this month a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that Republican redistricting in the state was unconstitutional gerrymandering.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.