Wisconsin: Recount to cost $3.5M

The Wisconsin Elections Commission estimates its recount of the Badger State’s presidential election votes will cost approximately $3.5 million.

The bipartisan group on Monday announced it requires $3,499,689 by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday from one or both third-party candidates requesting the effort for it to proceed.

{mosads}“County clerks have done their best to estimate the actual costs of conducting a large recount in a relatively short time,” Commission Administrator Michael Haas said in a statement. “The estimates may vary wildly as some clerks may not have been able to precisely identify their estimated costs in the short time available for them.

“If the estimate turns out to be too high, the campaign will receive a refund. If the estimate is too low, they will have to pay the additional cost.”

The commission’s statement said Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Reform Party nominee Ricky De La Fuente can either split the cost between themselves or pay for it in full individually.

The group added Wisconsin’s 72 county clerks are now racing to recount all presidential election ballots before late Monday, Dec. 12, so that the results can be certified by 3 p.m. the following afternoon.

The commission announced last Friday it would undertake a recount of Wisconsin’s presidential election votes following separate requests filed by both Fuente and Stein.

An attorney for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, then revealed it would also participate in a recount there.

Marc Elias, the campaign’s general counsel, on Saturday added the Clinton team’s analysts were taking part despite having found little evidence of election sabotage.

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

Stein is nonetheless pushing forward with similar efforts in other states, having fundraised millions of dollars since last week.

The Green Party nominee on Monday filed for a recount in Pennsylvania and is now working toward a similar outcome in Michigan before a Wednesday deadline.