If a recount is to happen in Wisconsin it will cost the presidential candidate requesting it nearly $3.9 million and she has until 4:30pm Tuesday to pay $3.5 million of it. The Wisconsin Election Commission released the estimated cost of the recount late on Monday as $3.5 million and then revised the estimate to $3.9 million on Tuesday after finding an $400,000 addition error.. The recount is scheduled to begin on Thursday Dec 1.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein who has raised more than $6 million to pay for recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan called the Wisconsin estimate “an outrageous increase” but she plans to pay it.
Latest #WIRecount: @DrJillStein calls $3.5 mil cost "exorbitant," but will pay. Deadline 4:30 today. pic.twitter.com/nUeNmWPLul
— Laurel White (@lkwhite) November 29, 2016
The other candidate requesting the recount is independent Rocky Roque De La Fuente. However his campaign released a statement today saying it would not participate in the “cost prohibitive” recount.
Stein’s campaign is in Dane County court asking a judge to require hand counting of the ballots. The Associated Press reports the Hillary Clinton campaign filed a motion Tuesday seeking to join the lawsuit, arguing the recount could affect her. They also filed a memo supporting the push for a hand recount, saying that method is the most transparent for the public and will ensure the most accurate results.
Press release from the Wisconsin Elections Commission
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has given a recount cost estimate of nearly $3.5 million to the campaigns of Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent candidate Rocky Roque De La Fuente.
For the recount to go forward, one or both of the candidates will have to pay $3,499,689 to the Commission by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Commission Administrator Michael Haas. Both recount petitioners have been advised of the cost estimate.
At a meeting earlier today, the Commission directed staff to assess the full estimated recount fee to both petitioning candidates unless the candidates each submit payment for one-half of the total estimated cost.
“County Clerks have done their best to estimate the actual costs of conducting a large recount in a relatively short time,” said Haas. “The estimates may vary widely as some clerks may not have been able to precisely identify their estimated costs in the short time available to them. If the estimate turns out to be too high, the campaign will receive a refund. If the estimate is too low, they will have to pay the additional cost.”
Wisconsin’s 72 County Clerks expect to hire thousands of temporary workers to assist the county boards of canvassers in recounting the ballots. They also expect to be working extra hours and weekends to finish the recount by 8 p.m. Monday, December 12, the deadline established by the Commission today. The Commission will certify results by 3 p.m. Tuesday, December 13.