Trump pays $3 million for partial Wisconsin vote recount

Listen to this article

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump has paid $3 million for a partial recount in Wisconsin but has yet to file a petition stating which counties will be included, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Wednesday.

The Trump campaign has told the commission that it will file the petition by the 5 p.m. deadline, the commission tweeted.

A statewide recount would cost Trump $7.9 million. The $3 million he paid would be enough to pay for the $2.8 million cost of a recount in the state’s two most Democratic counties: Milwaukee and Dane. In those counties, Joe Biden received 577,455 votes. He won statewide by 20,608 votes, according to canvassed results submitted by the counties.

The recount, once formally approved by the elections commission chair, could start as soon as Thursday and no later than Saturday. It would have to be complete by Dec. 1.

Recounts in Wisconsin and throughout the country have historically resulted in very few vote changes. A 2016 presidential recount in Wisconsin netted Trump an additional 131 votes.

Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes that year and opposed the recount brought by the Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Trump and other Republicans have made claims of fraud and irregularities in the Wisconsin election, without evidence. The state’s top elections chief and local officials have said there were no substantial reports of deficiencies or wrongdoing.