Trump requests partial recount in Wisconsin
November 18, 2020President Donald Trump’s campaign said it will seek a partial recount in two heavily Democratic counties in Wisconsin, which President-elect Joe Biden carried by roughly 20,000 votes statewide.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said it would request recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which overwhelmingly backed Biden. Because Biden’s margin in the state is greater than one-quarter of a percentage point, the Trump campaign has to foot the bill for the recount, according to Wisconsin state law. A recount of the entire state would’ve cost $7.9 million.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission tweeted it received a wire transfer of $3 million from the Trump campaign shortly before 11 a.m. Eastern but it had not yet received a petition from the campaign formally requesting the recount. The Trump campaign's petition arrived later on Wednesday.
The recount is exceedingly unlikely to change the results in Wisconsin. In 2016, a statewide recount changed the totals in Trump’s favor by just 131 votes as he carried Wisconsin over Hillary Clinton.
The Trump campaign has sought to discredit the results of the election since it became clear that Trump had lost, claiming widespread impropriety and fraud without providing substantial evidence to back that up.
“We will not know the true results of the election until only the legal ballots cast are counted,” Jim Troupis, counsel to the Trump campaign, said in a statement accompanying the campaign’s announcement about seeking the Wisconsin recount. “We will not stop fighting for transparency and integrity in our electoral process to ensure that all Americans can trust the results of a free and fair election in Wisconsin and across the country.” The campaign claimed that there were “the worst irregularities” in the two aforementioned counties.
Allies of the president, backed by a group called True the Vote, sued to invalidate results in several counties, including both Dane and Milwaukee, claiming improprieties had occurred there. True the Vote filed to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuits in Wisconsin and in other states earlier in the week.
Source: https://www.politico.com/