Biden's Lead Against Trump Grows After Wisconsin Recount Ends
A recount of votes in two Wisconsin counties has ended, but the battle over the election in the state continues.
The recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties ended Sunday with Democrat Joe Biden increasing his margin over President Donald Trump. Both candidates gained votes during the process, but in the end, Biden’s statewide lead over Trump grew by 87 votes, according to The Washington Post.
The Trump campaign is challenging the results in several states, saying there were voting irregularities and fraud in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, in addition to Wisconsin. Despite numerous anecdotal allegations and statistical anomalies, however, proof has yet to surface that there was a widespread effort to distort the voting process in such a way that would have impacted the final results of the presidential election.
The Wisconsin Election Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify the votes, but Chairwoman Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, said she will certify the results Monday, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
“The reason for that is the Trump campaign cannot appeal until it’s certified,” Jacobs said, claiming her goal was to simplify the process.
“The role of the Elections Commission is essentially to verify the numbers, and that’s the whole purpose of the canvass,” she said.
Commissioner Bob Spindell, a Republican, called Jacobs’ move “completely inappropriate.”
“Obviously, she’s trying to pull a fast one for some reason,” he said.
Citing lawsuits already filed, he said the state should hold off until the courts act.
Trump on Saturday tweeted that the recount had been about finding illegal votes, not errors.
“The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday,” the president said. “We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!”
The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday. We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2020
Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis said the recounts “revealed serious issues regarding the legality of ballots cast.”
#Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/8kVAByRzFd
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 29, 2020
“As we have said from the very beginning, we want every legal vote, and only legal votes to be counted, and we will continue to uphold our promise to the American people to fight for a free and fair election,” she said.
The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 14.
The Trump campaign has said that about 180,000 early voting in-person ballots in the two counties where the recount took place should be rejected and has objected to state rules allowing election officials to fix errors on certification envelopes and some voters to avoid having to produce an ID.
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