A recount of Wisconsin’s general election results will start Thursday as scheduled after Green Party candidate Jill Stein paid the requisite $3.5 million before Tuesday’s deadline.
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The Wisconsin Elections Commission decided Friday to recount the votes in the state, after concerns were raised that the voting systems can be hacked.
If Trump moves to contest Stein’s request, it could delay the process past the December 13 federal deadline for vote recounts. Stein’s recount hopes for Wisconsin were frustrated when a judge ruled that counties would be given the option whether to use a hand recount or machine recount.
But Dane County Circuit Court Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn concluded Stein’s attorneys failed to show any hard evidence the machines were attacked and are unreliable.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump surprised many when he won Wisconsin by 1 percent, despite polls showing him lagging behind Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Once the recount petition is filed, other candidates on the ticket have seven days to file an appeal.
The Wisconsin Election Commission reported on November 25 that Stein had successfully filed her challenge to the results.
A schedule has been released for the recount of presidential votes in MI.
“I can’t imagine the cost could be any less for a statewide recount than a statewide election”, he said. However, the Elections Commission rejected the request for a hand count, instead allowing local election officials the authority to check by hand or with tabulation machines. His claims have not been independently verified, and election officials from numerous states – including Wisconsin – have criticized Trump’s claim of having won the popular vote nationwide and said that there was no widespread illegal voting in their states.
Stein’s campaign handed the Michigan Secretary of State a check for $973,250 on Wednesday. Stein says she’ll pay for it – and could ask her supporters for more money – even though she calls the estimated $3.5 million cost “exorbitant”.
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Stein has raised almost $6.5 million to fund recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and MI. Trump won the state by 10,704 votes – a mere two-tenths of a percentage point – the tightest presidential race in the state’s nearly 200-year history.
