PHILADELPHIA ��President-elect Donald Trump's supporters filed court motions Friday to try to block statewide recounts in Pennsylvania.
Days before a Commonwealth Court hearing in Pennsylvania on the request for a statewide recount from Green Party candidate Jill Stein, the state Republican Party urged the court to reject the request. In a motion made public Friday, they said a recount "puts Pennsylvania at grave risk" of not meeting a federal deadline to certify its votes.
"The legal antics of that election's fourth-place finisher suddenly meddle with Pennsylvania's electoral participation," attorneys for the state GOP and Trump's campaign wrote in their court filing.
Commonwealth Court has scheduled a Monday hearing on the recount petition.
In a lawsuit seeking the recount, Stein's campaign cited research by computer scientists suggesting possible irregularities with electronic voting machines.
Stein supporters also filed petitions for recounts in precincts around the state. In Philadelphia, recounts were underway Friday; a judge rejected petitions for recount in Montgomery County this week, and Bucks County will hold a hearing Tuesday.
In Allegheny County judge rejected a Republican bid to avert a recount of vote totals in 52 of the county's precincts Friday, and a partial recount will take place Monday.
Aside from the recount, vote totals are changing from initially reported results as counties finish counting absentee ballots and certify their final results.
Vote counts reported on election night are unofficial, so changes occur in every election. Counties often need to continue counting absentee ballots and sort out what to do with provisional ballots. The election board in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties must vote to certify its results before the Dec. 13 federal deadline, although it is not clear what would happen if the deadline isn't met.
In Bucks County, for example, Hillary Clinton's lead over Trump grew from 1,988 votes on the night of Nov. 8 to 2,699 votes as of Friday.
The nonpartisan vote counting website Decision Desk HQ that tabulated returns county-by-county reported that Trump's lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania had narrowed to 46,948 votes.
Statewide results had previously shown a margin of about 71,000 votes between Trump and Clinton.
On Friday the state's website reported a vote margin of 67,416 between Trump and Clinton, but a spokeswoman for the Department of State said not every county had reported updated or certified vote totals.
Stein's campaign seized on the narrowing vote-total report from Decision Desk by issuing a news release claiming Trump's lawyers objected to a statewide recount because they are "scared."
"We won't stand down as Donald Trump and his allies seeks to frivolously obstruct the legal processes set up to ensure the accuracy, security, and fairness of our election," Stein said in a news release Friday.
Trump supporters also filed objections Friday to recounts in Michigan and Wisconsin.
