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Like it or not, recounts are a necessary part of election process

If ever there were an unusual election, this year’s presidential race certainly is one.

Although Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Republican President-elect Donald Trump took the decisive Electoral College vote.

However, Jill Stein of the Green Party said the party would petition for a recount in Michigan along with pushing for recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Trump won those states, with the results expected to hold. The only way Clinton could claim the race would be if results in all three states were overturned, and that is extremely unlikely.

And considering the pre-election statements Trump made about the race being rigged, can you imagine the brouhaha that would ensue should Clinton be named the election winner?

The president-elect already was tweeting that the Green Party was engaged in a “scam to fill up their coffers,” according to an Associated Press report, and that the defeated Democrats simply were joining in the effort.

However, recounts are part of the U.S. democratic process. Although allegations of voting irregularities and hacks in this year’s presidential race so far have been unfounded, a recount might put those concerns to rest.

For example, Trump’s margin of victory in Michigan was only 0.22 percent of the total vote.

Although recounts in major statewide elections are rare and they seldom succeed in changing the results, it has happened.

One of the most notable turnarounds was the 2008 race for U.S. Senate in Minnesota when Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by only 312 votes. Coleman had been ahead by 215 votes before the recount, which because of the close margin was automatic.

Among the previous presidential races, the only recount was in 2000 in Florida, but it was stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court. George W. Bush won by 537 votes over former Vice President Al Gore.

Stein won only about 1 percent of the count in this year’s race, but her recount efforts have a greater meaning.

As she said, Americans deserve a voting system they can trust.

Conducting recounts in a fair manner is a good start.

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