On Friday afternoon, the state acknowledged it had received Stein’s petition for a statewide recount of the votes for President of the United States. State officials say the recount will begin next week, according to NBC News.
Wisconsin Election Commission’s Administrator Michael Haas said in a statement: “The Commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for President of the United States, as requested by these candidates.”
Wisconsin faces a December 13 federal deadline to conduct the recount which includes an examination by hand of nearly three million ballots. The recount will begin as soon as Stein pays the required fee, estimated to cost about $1.3 million.
Wisconsin has never had a presidential ballot recount, although the state conducted a recount in a non-presidential year, according to Reuters, who cited an incomplete survey by the Associated Press carried out after a contested Supreme Court election in 2011.
Haas says that almost twice the number of voters turned out this year for the presidential election and officials are going to have to scramble to get the recount done by Dec. 13. He added, “The recount process is very detail-oriented, and this deadline will certainly challenge some counties to finish on time.”
The deadline for recount petitions in Michigan and Pennsylvania comes up next week. As of Friday, Stein has raised nearly $5.0 million. The money will go toward paying lawyer fees, filing costs and recount observer fees.
The momentum for a recount has grown after the final vote in the three states proved to be markedly different from polling figures. There are also concerns over the possible hacking of electronic polling machines by Russia and Hillary Clinton’s huge lead in the popular vote.
While the Clinton campaign has not commented on the recount initiative, Twitter users were out in full force voicing their opinions. Some people are pointing to the irony of giving Jill Stein all that money to save the country.
And remember when Trump was hollering about the election being rigged?
Some people are even wondering who is actually backing the recount, could it be………
