Some states have a rule about automatic recounts, where if the vote totals are within a certain margin, a recount will be triggered without special request by any candidate. Perhaps a certain threshold should also be met for any candidate wanting a recount. Whatever that threshold may be set at, Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, would certainly not have met it. She did not place higher than fourth in any state where she was on the ballot, and received less than 1% of the vote. And yet she is asking for a recount in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, and while the outcome of those elections are highly unlikely to change after a recount, she is managing to muck up the election process pretty good. Also, she needs more money:

It seems unreasonable and a waste of time, money and effort to recount millions of votes where there is almost no chance for a candidate like that to win the election. The only chance there would be for something like to happen would be for massive voter fraud or massive error, and either one of those situations would certainly be detected justifying a recount. But in no jurisdiction where Jill Stein is asking for a recount has there been any credible evidence of fraud or error. The threshold to bring a recount in this instance then should be a combination of a prima facie case of fraud or error and a receipt of a certain percentage of votes – perhaps be within a few points of the winner. Or perhaps a sliding scale – the less votes you have, the more proof you need.