Counties’ recounts cost less than projected
The presidential recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties came in about $355,000 below the $3 million projected cost, according to figures provided by the counties to the state Tuesday.
Dane County’s recount came in about $11,000 below budget while Milwaukee County’s was about $343,600 lower than expected.
The county clerks who oversaw the recounts credited the lower price tag to finishing days before the Dec. 1 deadline.
“I’m glad, I’m happy,” Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said of coming in under budget. “We always want to be as accurate as possible, and I felt that because of the efficiency at which we operated and the fact that we put into service more tabulators and we had such dedicated election workers, that we were able to get the job done a few days ahead of schedule.”
President Donald Trump requested the recount only in the state’s two most populous and most liberal counties after losing the state by about 21,000 votes out of about 3 million total to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.
His campaign sought unsuccessfully to throw out about 238,000 ballots in the two counties.
Ultimately, the recount slightly increased Biden’s margin in the state.
Trump’s campaign had to pay the $3 million projected cost for the recount upfront to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
His campaign is to be reimbursed the difference between the expected and actual costs of the recount.
State law allows losing candidates to demand a recount only if the margin is 1 percentage point or less. The state pays for the recount if the margin is less than 0.25 points, while the losing candidate must pay for it if the margin is more than that.
Trump lost by a 0.6 percent margin in the Nov. 3 election.
Christenson told the Journal Sentinel the lower total cost in the county — ultimately about $1.7 million instead of the $2 millionprojected — was due to finishing the recount earlier than expected.
Finishing on Nov. 27 decreased the costs of renting the downtown Wisconsin Center, an expense that included not only securing the facility but also food service, audiovisual technology and staffing to provide guest services and health screenings, he said.
Fewer days also meant saving money on security provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department.
Dane County had estimated the recount would cost about $740,800, and the cost came in at about $729,700, according to Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell.
McDonell said the county used more of the Monona Terrace convention center in Madison than it had initially anticipated to allow for social distancing and space for observers, increasing costs.
But, he said, finishing a few days early balanced out the increased expense.
Less than $20,000 in state costs are also expected, according to Meagan Wolfe, the director of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
She said the state has until mid-January to refund the Trump campaign.
The state also must reimburse the counties.
State lawmakers have to sign off before the funds can be released but haven’t done so yet because they did not have the figures from the counties.