DETROIT — President Trump’s reelection campaign is planning to trigger a recount in Wisconsin as the state works to certify the results of Tuesday’s election.
Joe Biden, the presumptive winner of the 2020 presidential election, leads Trump in the Badger State 49.6% to 48.9% — or by just about 20,500 votes. In a call with supporters on Saturday, Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark vowed that the campaign would forge ahead with a recount and raised allegations of “irregularities” during the election, although he did not provide details about those claims.
“There were some serious irregularities on election day that we are looking into. We’ve already announced that we’re going to seek a statewide recount in Wisconsin, and we plan to do so,” Clark said. “We expect that the canvass, the initial canvass will be done Monday or Tuesday. And then that process will begin.”
Canvassing is not akin to a recount, but rather, it is the process by which states certify the unofficial results of elections and make them official. The process for Wisconsin began on Thursday, and it begins at the local level. Canvassing ensures the integrity of the results and is required before any recount can be held.
“The purpose of the canvass is to account for every ballot cast and to ensure that each valid vote is included in the official election results. The canvass enables an election official to resolve discrepancies, correct errors, and take any remedial actions necessary to ensure completeness and accuracy before certifying the election,” according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Once the canvassing is complete, the Trump campaign can file a petition with the Wisconsin Elections Commission for a recount. A recount can only be requested if the second-place challenger is less than 1 percentage point away from the leading contender, which is more than the approximately 0.6-point range that Trump is behind Biden. The Trump campaign will be footing the bill for the recount, though, as Wisconsin only pays for recounts in which the candidates are only separated by a mere 0.25-point of the vote.
Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said during the Saturday call that the reelection team is “very concerned about what we’re hearing and seeing” in the state. The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign for clarification about the “irregularities” and for specific examples but did not immediately receive a response. The Wisconsin GOP was also contacted about the allegations and about the recount in general.
A Wisconsin Republican Party leader alleged to the Washington Examiner on Friday that Milwaukee County election officials broke the rules of how absentee ballots are supposed to be counted by telling volunteers to fill in the addresses of witnesses if they were missing from the ballots.
The Trump campaign hopes that a recount will add more votes to its ledger. In 2016, when Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes, a recount was requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, which increased Trump’s lead by 131 votes.
Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker expressed doubt this week that a recount would substantially increase the president’s shots of winning Wisconsin. He has called the challenge “a high hurdle” to overcome.
After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes. After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI, @realDonaldTrump numbers went up by 131.
As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle. #Election2020 https://t.co/CEr82eiCWH
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) November 4, 2020
Trump has not conceded despite major news outlets, including the Associated Press, Fox News, CNN, NBC News, and others calling the race in Biden’s favor. Trump’s team has taken legal action in several states over allegations of electoral misconduct.
