Wisconsin Recount Update: Day 9 Finished, No Change in Sight

Wisconsin Recount Update: Day 9 Finished, No Change in Sight
Workers begin a statewide presidential election recount Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Jack Phillips
12/9/2016
Updated:
12/9/2016

Day 9 of Wisconsin’s recount efforts---pushed by Green Party candidate Jill Stein---show that Democrat Hillary Clinton gained 49 votes over Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

The Wisconsin Election Commission says that 60 out of the state’s 72 counties have finished their respective recounts, with 1,322 overall votes changed since it started. Approximately 88.5 percent of the state’s votes have been counted.

According to the agency, Trump netted 560 extra votes, while Clinton gained 609 votes. Trump won the state by 22,000 votes over Clinton.

Stein has argued that her recount initiative, which cost about $3.5 million, is to ensure the integrity of the election system. She claimed that Wisconsin’s system---long with Pennsylvania’s and Michigan’s systems---may have been compromised by hackers or irregularities, without providing evidence.

Stein, who got about 1 percent of the overall vote, received 63 votes, and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson got an extra 66 votes. It essentially means that Stein is paying about $55,555 per extra vote. She raised more than $6.5 million via an online fundraiser to pay for the recount.

A Milwaukee County sheriff guards a room where ballots are stacked up as a statewide presidential election recount begins Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Milwaukee. The first candidate-driven statewide recount of a presidential election in 16 years began Thursday in Wisconsin, a state that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point over Hillary Clinton after polls long predicted a Clinton victory. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
A Milwaukee County sheriff guards a room where ballots are stacked up as a statewide presidential election recount begins Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Milwaukee. The first candidate-driven statewide recount of a presidential election in 16 years began Thursday in Wisconsin, a state that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point over Hillary Clinton after polls long predicted a Clinton victory. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

“The changes in vote totals do not include the City of Milwaukee, which has reported partial numbers for individual reporting units (wards or combinations of wards) because it is recounting absentee ballots separately. Milwaukee is included in the 88.5 percent completed figure,” the Elections Commission wrote.

On Friday, a judge ruled that the recount in Wisconsin should continue---coming days after Republicans filed a complaint arguing against the effort.

“The relief you’re asking for is so clearly unwarranted,” U.S. District Judge James Peterson told the court on Friday morning. “The recount looks like it’s going smoothly and competently. It’s not going to have any impact on whether the electoral college meets or who takes office.”

He added: “It is crystal to me that I don’t have the basis for stopping the recount,” according to Wispolitics.com.

Peterson added that the statewide recount has so far revealed no irregularities, AP reported.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Stein’s efforts were essentially nullified this week after a federal judge ruled that the recount should be halted. Trump won Michigan by about 10,000 votes over Clinton.

For Pennsylvania, it’s still unclear what will happen to the recount after U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond heard arguments for and against the initiate. He'll issue a ruling on Monday, just one day before the state needs to certify its election results, Pennlive.com reported.

The federal deadline for the recount is Dec. 13, while the Electoral College will meet to elect Trump on Dec. 19.

In Nevada, Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske declared a recount finished, AP reported. The recount of ballots from five Nevada counties turned up 15 erroneous votes between Clinton and Trump, showing no change in the results of the election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
twitter
Related Topics