Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign has paid for a recount of two heavily Democratic Wisconsin counties.
The president’s team paid three million US dollars (£2.3 million), saying on Wednesday that the Milwaukee and Dane counties were the site of the “worst irregularities”, although no evidence of wrongdoing has been presented and state elections officials have said there was none.
In the two counties, Democrat president-elect Joe Biden received 577,455 votes compared with 213,157 for Mr Trump. Mr Biden won the state by 20,608 votes, based on canvassed results submitted by the counties.
“The people of Wisconsin deserve to know whether their election processes worked in a legal and transparent way,” said Jim Troupis, who is working with the Trump campaign.
“Regrettably, the integrity of the election results cannot be trusted without a recount in these two counties and uniform enforcement of Wisconsin absentee ballot requirements. We will not know the true results of the election until only the legal ballots cast are counted.”
The recount, once formally approved by the elections commission chair, could start as soon as Thursday and no later than Saturday. It would have to be complete by December 1.
Recounts in Wisconsin and across the US have historically resulted in very few vote changes. A 2016 presidential recount in Wisconsin netted Mr Trump an additional 131 votes.
Mr Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes that year and opposed the recount brought by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Mr Trump and other Republicans have made claims of fraud and irregularities in the Wisconsin election, without evidence. The state’s top elections chief and local officials have said there were no substantial reports of problems or wrongdoing.
PA
