The Trump campaign filed a petition on Nov. 18 for a partial recount in Wisconsin of several counties, and has spent $3 million to cover the estimated cost.
A full recount of the state would cost around $8 million, Wisconsin election officials have previously said.
The recount request is for Milwaukee and Dane counties, the campaign said, noting there were alleged “illegally altered absentee ballots, illegally issued absentee ballots, and illegal advice given by government officials allowing Wisconsin’s Voter ID laws to be circumvented,” according to a statement.
The campaign further accused the Wisconsin Elections Commission of directing municipal clerks to illegally alter absentee ballots, which is illegal under state law. Clerks were told to use their own “personal knowledge” as well as “lists or databases at his or her disposal” to add missing information that is required by law on absentee ballots, the campaign stated.
The commission’s public information officer, Reid Magney, told the Journal Sentinel on Nov. 18 that the guidance was issued several years ago that clerks are required to “take corrective actions in an attempt to remedy a witness address error.”
He added, “The guidance has been in effect for 11 statewide elections, including the 2016 presidential and presidential recount, and no one has objected to it until now.”
He didn’t elaborate on whether that circumvents state law.
But the campaign stated that clerks across the state also sent “absentee ballots to voters without requiring an application,” which is in “direct conflict with Wisconsin’s absentee voting safeguards,” as state law stipulates that absentee ballots shouldn’t be issued without written consent via an application…
Continue Reading