Wisconsin Recount: Stein Raises $3.5M to Cover Costs

Updated. Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who requested recounts in Wisconsin and two other battleground states that swung the 2016 presidential election to Donald J. Trump, made a nearly $3.5 million wire transfer Tuesday to the Wisconsin Elections Commission to cover the costs of the recount, officials said.

Still unsettled is whether the ballots will be hand-counted, as recount advocates prefer, or if counties will be allowed to decide for themselves how to approach the recount.

Patch's earlier story: Recount costs are soaring in two battleground states that decided the 2016 presidential election in Donald J. Trump’s favor, but Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate who requested them, said Tuesday that recount advocate won’t be deterred.

In Wisconsin, it is expected to cost $3.5 million, an amount Stein called “exorbitant” and “unconscionable.” In Michigan, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said the recount could cost $2 million or more. In Pennsylvania, a third battleground state, the recount process is a little more complicated, requiring voters to petition their precincts for a recount.

As of Monday, Stein had officially petitioned the Pennsylvania courts on behalf of 100 of the state’s voters to launch a recount of the presidential election, which she called “illegal” on her website.

The recounts were requested after a prominent group of election attorneys and computer scientists, including University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman, claimed to have uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the election results in the three battleground states could have been hacked.

Trump won the three states by razor-thin margins. In Michigan, which only declared Trump the winner Tuesday, he won the state’s 16 electoral votes by a margin of 10,704 votes.

“Exorbitant Cost Will Not Deter Us”

In a statement Tuesday, Stein said she is committed to the recount in Wisconsin, though advocates must raise an additional $2.4 million to meet the “extraordinary burden” in the Badger State.

"We stand by our commitment to verify that the vote in Wisconsin was accurate and secure, and this exorbitant cost will not deter us," she said. “While this excessive fee places an undue burden on our efforts, we are committed to paying this cost in order to ensure that the voting in Wisconsin was accurate.”

More Patch Coverage on Recounts

• Swing-State Hacking Fears Fuel Talk of Recounts
• It's Official: Donald Trump Wins Michigan; President-Elect Could Fight Recount
• Jill Stein Plans Court Action to Force Hand Recount of Wisconsin Ballots
• Pennsylvania Recount Petition Filed; Election Called ‘Illegal’
• Hillary Clinton Campaign Will Participate in Wisconsin Recount

Either Stein or American Delta Party candidate Rocky de la Fuente, who also asked for a recount, must pay the full $3.5 million by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Either candidate or the two of them together must pay the tab.

However, on Tuesday de la Fuente issued a statement saying that he had withdrawn his petition in Wisconsin because it was “cost prohibitive” but intends to file recount petitions in other states.

Stein had pushed for a hand-count of the Wisconsin ballots, a request that was denied. She is due in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday for a hearing on a lawsuit to force the hand-count, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Advocates have argued that simply using the same methods employed when the votes were tallied on Election Night won’t suffice, because any errors that may have occurred won’t be caught.

If Stein prevails in the lawsuit, the 2.98 million ballots will be laboriously counted by hand. If she doesn’t, election officials in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties can decide for themselves how to proceed. The Journal Sentinel said dozens of counties plan to proceed with a hand-recount Thursday, regardless of the court decision.

Michigan Costs Could Equal Wisconsin’s

In Michigan, Johnson said a hand-recount of the 4.8 million ballots cast in the Nov. 8 election could approach the same costs as in Wisconsin. The projected $2 million tab in Michigan is more than double what Stein will be required to pay to hand-count ballots in the state’s 3,600 precincts — about $790,000.

Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for Johnson’s office, said in a Tuesday email to The Detroit News that the recount costs in Michigan and Wisconsin could be similar. "Wisconsin and Michigan have roughly the same geographical size, and the same number of counties and local voting jurisdictions,” he wrote.

“It’s hard to really predict, but I don’t think the $900,000 will really cover half,” Johnson told WJR Radio.

Stein has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to ask for a recount in Michigan. She has assured supporters of the effort that she will do so.

Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said Tuesday there is no precedent for a statewide recount in Michigan that would overturn 1,000 votes, much less 10,000 votes.

“Democrats need to publicly accept the results of this election. Donald Trump won Michigan by a significant margin and Green Party officials and Democrats admit there is no fraud or impropriety and this will not change the results,” McDaniel said in a statement. “The unwillingness to accept the outcome undermines the will of Michigan voters and the election process. It’s nothing more than a fundraising scam. I am calling on every Democrat elected official to oppose this wasteful, insulting recount.”

She claimed the argument that the recounts are necessary to ensure the integrity of the election “is bogus.”

“This frivolous recount undermines the election process and Democrats should demand that the Stein campaign drop this sham immediately,” McDaniel said.

Photo of Jill Stein by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons