The Wisconsin Election Commission has released an estimated cost for a recount of the November presidential election, and a timeline for the recount.
In a press release, the commission announced an estimated cost of $7.9 million for the recount after receiving estimates from counties throughout the state. “We still have not received any indication that there will or will not be a recount,” said Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s chief election official. “But we want Wisconsin’s voters to know we are ready.”
“Our county clerks have carefully estimated their costs for recounting 3.2 million ballots, which is approximately $7.9 million,” Wolfe said. “These estimates are significantly higher than the actual costs of the 2016 recount, but they take into account factors not present four years ago, including the need for larger spaces to permit public observation and social distancing, security for those spaces, the higher number of absentee ballots, a compressed timeframe over a holiday, and renting high-speed ballot scanning equipment.”
The Wisconsin Legislature changed state law in 2017 following the 2016 presidential recount to allow the Wisconsin Elections Commission to include its costs in the estimate. WEC costs are less than $30,000 of the total estimate. If the estimated costs exceed actual costs, the candidate’s committee will receive a refund for the difference, Wolfe said.
Last week, the WEC contacted the presidential campaigns to inform them of the procedures for requesting a recount. A copy of the letter is attached.
Wolfe also announced the potential timeline for a recount, if one is requested. The timeline permits the recount to be completed and the results to be certified by December 1, 2020.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 – The last county canvass is received. There are several counties outstanding, and some have indicated they will not be finished before November 17.
Wednesday, November 18 by 5:00 p.m. – The deadline for the aggrieved presidential candidate to file for a recount and submit payment.
Thursday, November 19, 2020 – The Commission Chair issues the Recount Order. This starts the 13-day recount clock and is also the first day that recount boards can meet.
Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. – The deadline by which county boards of canvassers must convene for the recount (no later than 9:00 a.m. on the third day after the recount order is issued).
Tuesday, December 1, 2020 – The deadline to complete the recount. This is also the deadline, under Wisconsin law, for WEC to certify results from the General Election. Therefore, recounts must be completed and results must be filed with WEC by noon on December 1, 2020.
Wolfe said WEC understands the timeline will be difficult to navigate, but noted that state law does not account for the many challenges on the calendar, including the Thanksgiving holiday. The Wisconsin Legislature changed the recount law in 2017, shortening the recount request window, which compresses the timeline even more than in 2016.
Recount Facts
- Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, even if the unofficial results are extremely close.
- The second-place candidate must wait to request a recount until after the last county reports its certified results to the state. This is expected to happen on November 17.
- For presidential recounts, the aggrieved candidate has just one day to file for a recount. The Wisconsin Legislature changed this deadline from three days to one day following the 2016 presidential recount.
- According to unofficial results, the margin of victory between the top two presidential candidates is 20,470 votes, or 0.62%, which makes the race eligible for recount if the losing candidate wishes to request one.
- Because the margin is more than 0.25%, the aggrieved candidate must prepay the estimated costs of the recount at the time of requesting it.
- Complete information about Wisconsin’s recount laws and procedures is available here: https://elections.wi.gov/manuals/recount.
The cost estimate, letter to the President's team, and a copy of the WEC press release are attached below.
Documents
Memberships
The Wisconsin Recount - where we stand
Update - It appears the Stein campaign is going to sue to demand hand recounts of all ballots:
Since two recount petitions were filed for a Wisconsin recount of the presidental election, procedures for the recount are now under way. County clerks around the state are currently providing cost estimates for their recount efforts, and must provide both a cost and the method that will be used to recount optical scan ballots by the close of business today.
The method issue is important. Current state law allows the different counties to select whether they will count the optical scan ballots by hand and visual inspection, or by feedting them through an optical scan tabulator. Since there are some practical issues with recounting with the scanner (needing to obtain a separate memory cartridge, calibrating and testing the machine, visually inspecting each ballot before scanning it, etc.) it's very possible that many of the jurisdictions will choose to hand count, since it is in a lot of cases easier and faster than doing it by scanner. This is complicated by the fact that the Jill Stein campaign has requested hand-counting of all ballots. If a number of counties are planning on counting ballots with a scanner, it's very possible the petitioning campaigns will attempt to receive a court order forcing hand counting of all of the ballots.
A teleconference call was held this morning to determine scheduleing for the recount. Once the recount costs are determined, the elections board will request payment from the two campaigns. Both the Stein and De la Fuente campaigns will be invoiced for the full cost of the recount. Each of the campaigns willl have to pay 50% of the invoice to become a petitioner. If they both pay the full amount, 1/2 will be refunded to each. If only one pays, they will become the sole petitioner. It seems very likely that the outcome will be that the Stein campaign will pay the entire bill and be the only petitioner. If neither campaign pays the bill by 4:30 PM on Tuesday, the recount will stop.
At that point the recount will be posted and notice will be sent to all of the candidates. This requires a 24 hour waiting period, so the earliest the recount can start would be Thursday of this week. County elections boards are at the moment scrambling to come up with enough canvassers to conduct the recount - in most cases this will be the clerks from the different jursidictions in the county, but it's likely that other volunteers will be needed at least in some counties, since there is a very short timeline for the recount. At least in theory, the recount must be completed by December 13 to conform to federal law and to allow the electors to place votes with the Electoral College. Since recounts are being requested in at least three states,it's entirely possible that one or more of the states will not complete the recount on time. This will create some interesting untested possibilities. I hope it does not come to that.
A few quick footnotes - The entire recount process is documented in the state recount manual. Also, I have been asked by numerous people what I think the outcome of the recount will be. Honestly I will be genuinely shocked if the recount makes any significant change to the election outcome in either direction..However, I think it is good for us to have a serious check on the transparency of the election process, particularly in an election that has been so unsettling to many in the country.
Lastly - there is another recount underway in the Kapanke-Schilling race. That recount has already begun. Since it is only affecting three counties, it's likely that one will be completed soon, though it is not clear to me what the interactions of the two recounts may be.
Steve is a member of LION Publishers , the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce, the Online News Association, and the Local Media Consortium, and is active in Health Dunn Right.
He has been a computer guy most of his life but has published a political blog, a discussion website, and now Eye On Dunn County.
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