President Trump wants recount in Milwaukee, Dane counties

(The Center Square) – President Donlad Trump wants to count just some of Wisconsin’s ballots again.

The president’s campaign on Wednesday asked for a recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties.

“The people of Wisconsin deserve to know whether their election processes worked in a legal and transparent way,” former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis said in a statement. “Regrettably, the integrity of the election results cannot be trusted without a recount in these two counties and uniform enforcement of Wisconsin absentee ballot requirements.”

The president trails Joe Biden by just over 20,000 votes according to Wisconsin’s unofficial vote count.

Biden received 317,270 votes in Milwaukee County, while the president got 134,357. In Dane County, Biden received 260,185 votes, while the president got 78,800.

The partial recount will cost $3 million, which is a million dollars more than it cost to count all of the ballots during Wisconsin’s 2016 presidential recount. The Wisconsin Elections Commission says the Trump campaign paid that $3 million before requesting the partial recount.

“We will not stop fighting for transparency and integrity in our electoral process to ensure that all Americans can trust the results of a free and fair election in Wisconsin and across the country,” Troupis added.

The decision to ask for a recount in only Milwaukee and Dane counties is drawing criticism for the president’s campaign.

Milwaukee and Dane counties are the state’s largest counties, and are the state’s most Democratic counties. One of Dane County’s new state representative-elects also says the two counties are home to a lot of Blacks.

“This is coincidentally where 74% of the Black population in Wisconsin lives,” Rep-Elect Francesca Hong, D-Madison, said on Twitter Wednesday. “This is the most blatant and racist form of voter suppression. For the Wisconsin GOP to continue congratulating and thanking 45 is sickening. There will be no evidence of voter fraud, only voter suppression.”

Election clerks in Milwaukee and Madison say they are ready to start counting their ballots again, and expect to begin as early as Thursday. No one is saying how long a recount will take. Wisconsin’s deadline to certify its vote count is Dec. 1.