Jill Stein Plans Court Action to Force Hand Recount of Wisconsin Ballots

(Posted Nov. 28, 2016) Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says she will go to court if necessary to start a hand recount of ballots cast by Wisconsin residents in the 2016 presidential election. The state elections commission denied her request for the count, but said the recount would begin on Thursday if the money to pay for it is received by Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump narrowly won the state's 10 electoral votes — about 27,000 votes separate him and Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton — and Wisconsin Elections Commission chairman Mark Thomsen doesn't expect that to change with the recount.

Thomsen, a Democrat, doesn't expect a recount to change the outcome of the Nov. 8 election, but criticized Trump for claiming on Twitter that he was denied the popular vote due to "massive fraud" and that "millions of people" had voted illegally for Clinton, who is ahead among voters by more than 2 million votes.

Thomsen, who joins a chorus of election officials dunking the claim, said Trump's remarks are "an insult to the people that run our elections" and an unprecedented attack on poll workers and the elections process.

The plan approved Monday leaves it to elections officials in each of the state's 72 counties to decide the recount method, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Some counties could opt for a hand recount, while others used optical scanners. Final count reports are due at 8 p.m. on Dec. 12.

Stein, who requested the recount after a University of Michigan election security expert and election lawyers raised hacking fears in three swing states that decided the election, has promised to seek recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania as well.

Photos by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons