The first candidate-driven statewide recount of a presidential election in 16 years is set to begin Thursday in Wisconsin, a state that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point over Hillary Clinton after polls long predicted a Clinton victory.
The recount requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein carries none of the drama of the Florida presidential recount of 2000, when the outcome of the election between Al Gore and George W. Bush hung in the balance. Almost no one expects Stein’s push for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to result in a Clinton victory over Trump.
“This is certainly not Bush v. Gore,” said Wisconsin’s chief elections administrator Mike Haas.
But still, county election officials across Wisconsin have hired temporary workers, expanded hours and dusted off recount manuals to prepare for the work of retabulating nearly 3 million ballots.
Most counties will manually recount the ballots, although Stein lost a court challenge this week to force hand recounts everywhere. The state’s largest county, Milwaukee, was planning to recount the ballots by feeding them through the same machines that counted them on election night. In Dane County, where Clinton won 71 percent of the vote, the ballots will be counted by hand.
Clinton lost to Trump by about 22,000 votes in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin election officials have less than two weeks to complete the recount. Dec. 13 is the federal deadline to certify the vote to avoid having the fate of Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes decided by Congress. Even if that were to happen, the votes would almost certainly go to Trump, since Republicans control both chambers of Congress.
Stein has argued, without evidence, that irregularities in the votes in all three states suggest that there could have been tampering with the vote, perhaps through a well-coordinated, highly complex cyberattack.
Her critics, including the Wisconsin Republican Party, contend that she’s a little-known candidate who is merely trying to raise her profile while raising millions of dollars. Stein had raised nearly $7 million, about twice as much as her longshot presidential campaign, to pay for the recounts.
The Wisconsin recount was estimated to cost about $3.9 million, while Stein paid $973,250 for the one in Michigan.
Stein filed a lawsuit Monday in Pennsylvania to force a recount there.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
God prevailed in the general election with Mr. Trump winning. I have NO doubt that He will prevail in the vote recount AND the shenanigans the Clintons and others are pulling by trying to persuade the electors to change their vote to Clinton and throw their citizens under the bus. It’s so very obvious that God was in this election. Mr. Trump becoming the winner of the election was such a long shot! The Clintons are so evil and conniving! GOD IS IN CONTROL for which I am truly thankful!! Please keep praying, people! The most satisfying life you will ever know is in having a loving relationship with the one and only Father God! Blessings!!
Take the bitch Stien out behind the woodshed and give her a real good down to earth spanking with her pants and other things down so she can’t sit down for at least two weeks.and then a swift kick in her fat ass. As a attention getter.
Kike Stein is a duplicitous operative for the Clintons and Soros.
We are praying!
Well stein missed the filing deadline in Pennsylvania,So there will be no recount there.
They are just wasting money and time And are sore losers.
Its done deal with it.
I sure hope they stick to their guns on the Pennsylvania recount laws……..And pray that the votes in the other two states do not change…..and Hillary has to eat humble pie….Trump deserves to be our President ….He is definitely trying to do more then I have seen any president do to keep his promises…..and I would hate to see God continuing to be taken out of our public places…….pray
Why don’t they just send Stein home explaining what the real definition of “irrelevent” means. Then send Hillary to Ft. Levenworth in Kansas for the rest of her natural life…taking the 3.9 million and put it into an impoverished neighborhood for repair, warm clothing & food. What a concept.
No wonder our government is in total failure. Can’t wait to see what President Trump will do with this backward thinking.
We do not need that kind of “Women”in politics or anywhere else…I feel ashamed for them- Think of the good this money could do for humanity….. and not inflated ego… During all that time prior to election-day no mention of the poor and elderly on meager social security…the mother left with two or three kids to raise..alone..small pay-check etc ..etc..these children left alone after school until mother gets home..tired..broke..etc..etc..
SHAME..SHAME on you USA…….
Agree
Why they can’t distribute this money to Tennessee and other southern states that were devastated by tornadoes and severe weather instead of pouring it for a recount. Just hope that those Temp workers are honest and not paid double to cheat the result. God please watch them!
While we are all aware that the IDIOTS forcing this recount have a right to do it under the Constitution and the laws of our country, I am still INFURIATED AND DISGUSTED that this is happening. The biggest reason this should not have been allowed is the CLEAR FACT that there is NO EVIDENCE of tampering with the vote in ANY of these states. Those so-called “computer scientists” who speak of “anomalies” in the vote in several counties are basically SO FULL OF CRAP that I cannot believe ANYONE took them seriously. But of course, that is what the DEMONCRATS, and any other political left moron, will do in order to try and make themselves relevant and REMAIN IN THE SPOTLIGHT. Someone in charge in Wisconsin should have DEMANDED that they provide CLEAR EVIDENCE OR PROOF that “hackers” could have gotten into those machines on the day of the election to manipulate votes. But they have NO REAL EVIDENCE, because it did not happen. Just because Stein raised the money (and yes, Soros and Hillary are behind this) does not mean this insanity should actually be taking place. I read elsewhere that the “anomalies” spoken of in the states in question happened in a similar pattern all over America. WHICH IS WHY TRUMP WON THIS ELECTION, BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE VOTING FOR HIM TO WIN. But no, the pathetic left cannot accept this, they simply MUST find any way possible to discredit Trump and his landslide win. THE MAP IS MOSTLY RED NOW, you idiots. Grow up, get a life, and stop trying to ruin Trump’s victory. These selfish cry babies want to ruin it for those of us who are happily CELEBRATING that Trump won. This is what our country has come to. Half of America is a vast pile of entitled immature little whinerds, who don’t know how to lose ANYTHING, even a presidential election, without falling apart. It is so absurd and ridiculous that it is LAUGHABLE.
Like others above say, GOD had a great big hand in this election. And I fully believe God is still a part of all this, and that OF COURSE this wasteful recount is going to come to nothing. I just wish the extremists and libtards would develop a LITTLE BIT of maturity and wisdom, and stop their childish tantrums and ridiculous behavior. Guess accepting reality is just impossible for some human beings.
GO TRUMP!!!
As Hillary once said “What difference at this point does it make?”
I would submit that if they were to during the recount discard all the ballots cast by dead folks, illeagal’s , folks who voted more than once then Trump would win by an even larger margin. I’m just saying.
I didn’t like either candidate. But I’m dumbfounded by all the Trump supporters who think he’s so terrific because he’s going to “restore” the Constitution (whatever the hell that means) but, in the same breath, are all up in arms that Stein is doing what she feels is right by means protected by the Constitution!! My head hurts!!!
The count should go fairly quickly since there is only going to be one item on the ballot counted. Most states have enough controls in place that recounts generally don’t change the results of an election. We will see how well these states’ election night controls worked.
What is the problem with a recount , anyone who has a problem with a recount is a person who thinks that their could be a problem and doesn’t want to no the truth if you voted for Trump and a recount proves he is the winner then we can all live with the decision wether we like it or not. Trump will prove that he is worthy of people’s support or he will be gone in 4 years or sooner if he violates the Laws of the US.
I wonder why she is counting the votes in just those 3 states that Hillary lost? Of the 3,100 counties in America, Trump won 2,600 to Hillary’s 500. Why waste the time and money?
Because these states are where the greatest vulnerabilities lie. Hey, trump nagged us all that the election was rigged, you would think he would be leading the charge for the recount to prove his point. But no, he is, as always, threatening to sue, putting up plenty of smoke to hide wrongdoing. As with trump u, cost him 25 million, you know he never would have paid if he thought he could be proven innocent.
Ah, guys, this god of yours has feet of clay. What will you say when he fails you? Problem is that when he brings you down, he brings me down too. I say, hands off my social security – and yours. Hands off my Medicare – and yours. Hands off insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. Want to do us a favor? Kick out the insurance companies, use the money their greedy CEOs took and use it to make Americans healthy again!
actually there has not been anybody at the beginning of this that has actually come up with a reason for this ……..many people have said there is not evidence that any thing was fraudulent ….and the enormous amount of money that will be spent on this could go to people that really need it…………….I hope when this is all over with, the Republicans can say I told you so
If there were any irregularities or fraud; it was probably for Hillary.