• Wisconsin recount?

If Trump wants one, his campaign would have to pay the $8 million cost.

MADISON, Wis. – President Donald Trump's campaign would have to pay nearly $8 million to start a recount in Wisconsin, a state he narrowly lost two weeks ago.

Trump will have to decide by Wednesday whether to carry through with the recount he has promised.

If his campaign pays the $7.9 million cost up front, the recount will begin as soon as Thursday and be complete by Dec. 1, according to the state Elections Commission.

Trump has been furiously fundraising for the Wisconsin recount and legal challenges in other states to try to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory. If he doesn't go ahead with the Wisconsin recount, he can use the money he has raised for other purposes, such as retiring his campaign debt.

The price tag for the Wisconsin recount is nearly four times as much as a recount in 2016. That year, the campaign of Green Party candidate Jill Stein had to pay just over $2 million.

A recount would be so much more costly this year in part because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Meagan Wolfe, director of the state Elections Commission. Some counties would need to rent large halls to do the recount so they could keep workers and observers distanced. Also driving up the cost are a short time frame and increased security needs, Wolfe said.

“We still have not received any indication that there will or will not be a recount,” Wolfe said in a statement. “But we want Wisconsin’s voters to know we are ready.”

The last counties were expected to finishtheir canvasses Tuesday. So far, those canvasses have differed little from unofficial results that showed Biden winning the state by about 20,000 votes. If Trump requests the recount, commission Chairwoman Ann Jacobs would order on Thursday that counties start recounts.