Vote recount for Wisconsin

WASHINGTON: Wisconsin’s election board agreed on Friday to conduct a statewide recount of votes cast in the presidential race, as requested by a Green Party candidate seeking similar reviews in two other states where Donald Trump scored narrow wins.

The recount process, including an examination by hand of the nearly three million ballots tabulated in Wisconsin, would begin late next week after Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign had paid the required fee, the Elections Commission said.

The state faced a Dec 13 federal deadline to complete the recount, which might require canvassers in Wisconsin’s 72 counties to work evenings and weekends to finish the job in time, according to the commission.

The recount fee had yet to be determined, the agency said on its website.

Stein said in a Facebook message on Friday that the sum was expected to run to about US$1.1 million (RM4.8 million).

She said she had raised at least US$5 million from donors since launching her drive on Wednesday for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — three battleground states where Republican Trump edged out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by relatively thin margins.

Stein said her goal was to raise US$7 million to cover all fees and legal costs.

The chance of overturning the overall result of the Nov 8 election is considered very slim, even if all three states go along with the recount.

The Green Party candidate, who garnered a little more than one per cent of the nationwide popular vote herself, said on Friday that she was seeking to verify the integrity of the United State voting system, not to undo Trump’s victory.