Walker slams recount effort in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Monday blasted the recount of presidential election votes getting underway in his state.

Donald Trump flipped the traditionally blue state on Election Day, besting Hillary Clinton by more than 20,000 votes.

Walker said the recount is “hard to justify” with such a clear outcome.

Hard to justify #Recount2016 to the taxpayers when the winner won by over 22K votes – x4 the margin of the closest WI pres. election.

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) November 28, 2016

{mosads}Walker, who competed against Trump in the GOP’s presidential primary, defended the Badger State’s voting process.

We made it easy to vote, hard to cheat in WI elections. Supporters of #Recount2016 were against our Voter ID initiatives.

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) November 28, 2016

WI’s electoral process is fair & protected. Are #Recount2016 supporters really that surprised how rural Wisconsin voted?

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) November 28, 2016

Reports emerged last Friday Wisconsin would undertake a recount after two requests from third-party candidates.

The Wisconsin Election Commission announced Green Party nominee Jill Stein filed her request that afternoon, while Reform Party nominee Rocky De La Fuente also filed for a recount.

The commission added it is now working under a Dec. 13 deadline to finish re-tabulating the votes.

The state carries 10 electoral votes.

An attorney for Clinton’s campaign on Saturday announced they would participate in the Wisconsin recount despite finding little evidence the election’s results are suspect.

“The campaign is grateful to all those who have expended time and effort to investigate various claims of abnormalities and irregularities,” Marc Elias, the Clinton campaign’s general counsel, wrote in a Medium post.

“While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reopened.”

Stein on Monday filed for a recount in Pennsylvania and hopes to launch a similar effort in Michigan after raising millions of dollars for her efforts.

Clinton’s supporters have pointed to her 2 million-vote lead over Trump in the popular vote as evidence she may want to consider recounts in closely contested states.

Trump on Sunday blasted the recount movement, vowing “nothing would change” after a waste of money and time.