U.S. New & World Report: Trump Hedges His Bet on Wisconsin Recount
U.S. New & World Report: Trump Hedges His Bet on Wisconsin Recount
THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to the outgoing president’s quest to upend the election results with unsubstantiated claims of voters fraud and illegal elections procedures.
Some of its money, anyway. Faced with a Wednesday late afternoon deadline to demand a recount in Wisconsin – and an advance bill of $7.9 million for the statewide service – the campaign opted for a recount-lite, wiring $3 million to the state for recounts in two heavily Democratic counties.
The campaign claimed that absentee ballots were illegally issued or altered and that government officials gave “illegal advice” allowing Wisconsin voter ID laws to be violated. The Trump team said it was asking for recounts in Milwaukee and Dane Counties – both of which voted heavily for President-elect Joe Biden and which are homes to the largest and third-largest Black populations, respectively, in the Badger State – because they were where the “worst irregularities” occurred. …
Wisconsin has already done its own canvas, which was completed Tuesday and added 181 votes to Biden’s haul, Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, told reporters in a conference call. It’s very rare that a recount changes the outcome of an election, and Biden’s 20,608-vote margin of victory in Wisconsin makes it extremely unlikely the state would be awarded to Trump, he said.
The Wisconsin recount demand is among a series of efforts the losing Trump campaign has made to challenge the results of the Nov. 3 election, a race Biden won by more than 5.8 million votes nationwide and by a 306-232 Electoral College vote margin.
Dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and supporters – ranging from the use of Sharpies to fill out Arizona ballots to unproven claims that Republican observers were not allowed to monitor vote counters – have been rejected by the courts or withdrawn.
“There’s no merit to the lawsuits being brought by Team Trump,” Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation for Common Cause, told reporters in the conference call. “I think we’re seeing a good old-fashioned fundraising bait-and-switch scheme.” …
In Georgia, a state Biden won by an initial margin of about 14,000 votes, a hand recount is underway and should be completed by midnight Wednesday, Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, told reporters in the conference call. As of Wednesday afternoon, Biden was still ahead by 12,781 votes and will almost certainly retain the state’s 16 Electoral College votes, she said.
The disparity comes from human errors, she said – such as a memory card that was not counted on election night. “It’s important to remember that humans make mistakes,” she said, adding that it happens “in every election.”
It doesn’t change election results, Dennis said – but it imperils democracy by undermining public faith in the system. Georgia, she notes, will be under the microscope again in January, when two run-offs for U.S. Senate seats will determine which party controls the chamber next year.