I was an electoral officer in one Canadian election, and we did a recount. It was all done privately, but we mutually scrutinized the ballots. As was said to me at the time: if you are going to fix things, waiting for the recount is far too late in the process. You can't get away with anything in a visual recount with other party people there.

The bizarre thing in the American system is the election and sometime appointment of judges along party lines. This is what is making this all so bizarre from a foreigner's point of view (and pretty dangerous). We certainly appoint judges in partisan ways, but they would not be tagged as such. We bend over backwards to keep the judiciary as non-political as possible.

yours, Peter T.