Biden Wins Wisconsin, Trump Team Wants Recount

Trailing candidate can request one if they aren't more than 1 percentage point behind
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 4, 2020 12:46 PM CST
Updated Nov 4, 2020 1:35 PM CST
Trump Campaign Says It Wants Wisconsin Recount
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, after stepping off Marine One and greeting supporters. Trump is returning from campaign events in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

President Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to "immediately" request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which the Associated Press called for Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon. Stepein spoke about a recount before the call, when Joe Biden was 20,000 votes ahead with 97% of precincts reporting. In Wisconsin, if a race is within 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can force a recount, reports the AP. Stepien said in a statement Wednesday: "The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so." The Hill reports Scott Walker, a former GOP governor of the state, suggested doing so would be a fool's errand.

Walker wrote in a tweet, "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."The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that all the unofficial results are in with the exception of a single community made up of 300 voters. "Beyond that we have no reason to believe there are any other ballots that have yet to be counted," said Meagan Wolfe, the director of the state Elections Commission. The paper notes that if that's the case, it would be the fourth time in six presidential elections that the final vote counts were less than 1 percentage point apart. (More Election 2020 stories.)

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