Wisconsin Counties' Election Recount Starts Friday, Costs Trump $3 Million

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, after an hourslong debate, agreed to issue an order Thursday to recount ballots cast in Milwaukee and Dane counties as requested by President Donald Trump, local reports said.

The "long-shot" recount of the two heavily Democratic counties in Wisconsin has cost President Donald Trump and his campaign $3 million.

The recounts are part of Trump's efforts to overturn the state election outcome.

The recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties will start Friday and must be completed by Dec. 1. Democrat president-elect Biden got 577,455 votes in those two counties compared with Trump's 213,157. Biden emerged victorious statewide by 20,608 votes, canvassed results submitted by the counties show.

Trump said the counties were the site of the "worst irregularities" in the election. State election officials have asserted there was none. Trump's campaign alleged clerks "wrongly added" missing information on returned absentee ballots.

"We won't stop fighting for transparency and integrity in our electoral process to ensure all Americans can trust the results of a free and fair election in Wisconsin and across the U.S.," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted former Dane County circuit judge Jim Troupis as saying.

Troupis is representing Trump's campaign in its recount effort. It would have cost Trump $8 million to finance a recount for all of Wisconsin. Democrats said they were confident the result in Wisconsin would remain.

Biden campaign spokesperson Nate Evans said the official canvass results reaffirmed the president-elect's unquestionable and commanding win in Wisconsin. A "cherry-picked" recounting of Milwaukee and Dane County will not change the results, he said.

A state-directed recount is being prepared in Georgia and Trump's campaign is working on lawsuits in other parts of the country, including Nevada and Pennsylvania.