A federal judge refused to stop the Wisconsin presidential recount on Friday. With 88.5% of the ballots counted, the results show little change in the race, but absentee ballots from Milwaukee have yet to be recounted.
Hillary Clinton lost a little ground in Thursday’s tally which was released on mid-day Friday and has a tremendous amount of ground to make up if there is to be a change in the result of Wisconsin’s presidential election. The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s latest recount spreadsheet shows she has cut into Donald Trump’s lead by just 49 votes. That’s a drop from the previous totals that showed she had moved 61 votes closer to Trump.
The pre-recount totals showed Trump ahead by more than 22,000 votes.
Milwaukee’s absentee ballots are still missing from the totals because they won’t be recounted until the election day ballots have been recounted. That makes it impossible to determine from the spreadsheet if either candidate has picked up or lost votes in the state’s most populous city.
Earlier today federal judge James D. Peterson dismissed a request from Trump supporters to stop the Wisconsin recount.
State Elections Commission director Michael Haas told reporters just after the hearing that he expects all counties to complete the recount no later than Monday afternoon.
Explanations provided by clerks for the differences in numbers between canvass and the recount:
Ashland County: Original election results were inadvertently entered as recount results for the Day 6 update. The recount results have been correctly updated to the Day 9 spreadsheet.
Calumet County: Increase of 15 ballots in City of Chilton Wards 1-5 because ballots were marked incorrectly on Election Day. Voter intent was determined during recount canvas. +11 votes for Trump/Pence and +4 votes for Clinton/Kaine.
Dane County: Increase of 12 votes in City of Verona Wards 2-4 due to ballots being counted as part of City of Verona Wards 1,5 in error on Election Day.
Eau Claire County: Increase of 14 votes in City of Eau Claire Ward 39 due to ballots that were marked incorrectly on Election Day, where the recount canvass determined voter intent, and the addition of 5 absentee ballots that were not counted on Election Day.