The Trump campaign-funded recount in two major Wisconsin counties has concluded — and President-elect Joe Biden has gained 87 votes overall in the state. The Wisconsin recount stretched across two counties, Milwaukee and Dane, both of which lean heavily Democratic, and the effort cost $3 million, which the Trump team had to pay under state rules because Biden’s margin of victory was over 0.25 percent. Overall, the recount effort confirmed that Biden won the state as a whole by over 20,000 votes — a margin that was never particularly susceptible to a legitimate recount.
Recently, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) observed that many of the Trump campaign’s fights seem underpinned by racism, since they’ve frequently targeted Black-majority areas. Dane County, which includes the city of Madison, completed its recount effort on Sunday, while Milwaukee County completed theirs the preceding Friday. Wisconsin state officials will soon certify the statewide results. According to The Washington Post, Trump and his allies “have said they still plan to fight in court in an attempt to prevent Wisconsin from moving forward,” although there’s no particularly compelling indication that these fights will be successful. The Trump team’s post-election record in court is mostly a long list of failures.
In Wisconsin, the Trump team argued that about 180,000 ballots across Milwaukee and Dane Counties should have been disqualified because an accompanying form that these voters signed during early voting was supposedly “insufficient” under state law, the Post explains. The campaign did not allege that these voters had committed fraud — in fact, according to the campaign’s own argument, these voters had abided by instructions from authorities. The Trump campaign wanted to throw out these votes anyway, attacking democracy in the process. Wisconsin officials have rejected the Trump campaign’s arguments.
The Trump team is running out of time to launch their election fights — the electoral college is scheduled to gather on December 14, at which point they’re slated to officially confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory (again). The official electoral college vote will add onto a long and growing list of formal confirmations that Biden is on his way to the White House. The prospect of the president pressuring state legislators to appoint electoral college members who support him no matter who won the state’s popular vote has emerged — but there’s no meaningful indication that this gambit could be successful. State leaders have repeatedly rebuffed the president’s desperate efforts.
