Wisconsin recount would cost Trump campaign $7.9 million: Elections Commission

Isabel van Brugen
The Epoch Times
Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:01 UTC

© Scott Olson/Getty Images

Election officials count absentee ballots in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Nov. 4, 2020.

A recount of unofficial results in the state of Wisconsin would cost President Donald Trump $7.9 million upfront, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Monday.

The Trump campaign on Nov. 7 took steps to seek a statewide recount after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was declared the projected winner in the state by his campaign and several news outlets on Nov 4.

Biden has more than a 20,000-vote lead over Trump in Wisconsin, according to The Associated Press and Decision Desk. According to the unofficial results, Biden has 49.5 percent of the vote, while Trump has 48.9 percent. A trailing candidate is allowed to seek a recount under state law if the margin of a race is within 1 percentage point.

Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin's chief elections official, said Monday that the estimated cost of a statewide recount will be $7.9 million. The cost estimate was based on costs submitted by the state's 72 counties.

The last time a recount was conducted in Wisconsin, in 2016, it cost $2 million. Wolfe said the higher cost is due to conducting a recount during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

"These estimates are significantly higher than the actual costs of the 2016 recount, but they take into account factors not present four years ago, including the need for larger spaces to permit public observation and social distancing, security for those spaces, the higher number of absentee ballots, a compressed timeframe over a holiday, and renting high-speed ballot scanning equipment," Wolfe said.

"We still have not received any indication that there will or will not be a recount," Wolfe added. "But we want Wisconsin's voters to know we are ready."

The Trump campaign has until 5 p.m. on Nov. 18 to file a request for the recount, which could then begin as soon as Nov. 19 and must be completed by no later than Dec. 1.

Jenna Ellis, Trump 2020 legal adviser, said in an emailed statement, "The legal team continues to examine the issues with irregularities in Wisconsin and are leaving all legal options open, including a recount and an audit."

Justin Clark, Trump's deputy campaign manager, said on Nov. 7 that his team would initiate a recount because of "irregularities" in the Nov. 3 election process, while asserting the team is "very concerned about what we're hearing and seeing." He didn't elaborate.

"There were some serious irregularities on Election Day that we are looking into. We've already announced that we're going to seek a statewide recount in Wisconsin, and we plan to do so," Clark said in a statement, as reported by the Washington Examiner. "We expect that the canvass, the initial canvass will be done Monday [Nov. 9] or Tuesday [Nov. 10]. And then that process will begin."

Canvassing is the process where states certify the unofficial results — typically reported on by news outlets — and make the results official.

"The purpose of the canvass is to account for every ballot cast and to ensure that each valid vote is included in the official election results. The canvass enables an election official to resolve discrepancies, correct errors, and take any remedial actions necessary to ensure completeness and accuracy before certifying the election," the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's website says.

Scott Walker, the state's former Republican governor, said he doubts a recount will change the outcome of the state, which has 16 Electoral College votes.

Comment: UPDATE from CBS:

Trump campaign transfers $3 million to Wisconsin for recount
Caitlin Conant, November 19, 2020 / 3:31 AM / CBS News

President Trump's campaign will seek a recount in two Wisconsin counties, it said Wednesday, alleging without presenting evidence that absentee ballots were illegally issued and altered, and county clerks advised voters on how to skirt the state's voter ID laws, according to CBS News campaign reporters Nicole Sganga, Adam Brewster and CBS News digital reporter Melissa Quinn.

The campaign said it is filing a petition with the Wisconsin Elections Commission for recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties, due to the purported irregularities and has transferred $3 million to the state to cover the cost of the recounts.

"The people of Wisconsin deserve to know whether their election processes worked in a legal and transparent way," Jim Troupis, counsel to the campaign, said in a statement. "Regrettably, the integrity of the election results cannot be trusted without a recount in these two counties and uniform enforcement of Wisconsin absentee ballot requirements. We will not know the true results of the election until only the legal ballots cast are counted."

Late Wednesday night, the Wisconsin commission agreed to issue an order to recount the ballots cast in the two counties. The vote was unanimous and came near the end of a six hours-plus meeting, Brewster reports. The session was filled with intense partisan bickering and several 3-3 deadlocked decisions along party lines.

CBS News projected President-elect Joe Biden won the state of Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes by more than 20,500 votes. In Dane County, Mr. Biden leads Mr. Trump by more than 181,000 votes, and in Milwaukee County, the president-elect is ahead by more than 182,000 votes. Reversing that lead would be nearly impossible, as even statewide recounts typically change voting totals by just hundreds of votes.

"They've actually limited their ability to potentially overcome the relatively large 20,000-vote margin, by looking at only a small portion of Wisconsin overall," CBS News election law expert David Becker said. "So it's almost impossible -- even with a statewide recount -- that they would be able to net even a tiny fraction of the 20,000-vote margin. And they're only looking at a small portion of Wisconsin, so the likelihood is even less. Their chances are about as close to zero as you can get."

...