The US state of Wisconsin is preparing to start a full recount of presidential election votes following a request by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
The recount is expected to begin on Thursday after officials said Monday that they had received petitions from Stein and Reform Party candidate Roque De La Fuente.
“As long as the petition is valid…the commission must issue a recount order,” said Michael Haas, the commission’s interim administrator.
However, Mark Thomsen, the commission’s chairman, said that “The outcome is not going to be different.”
“I don’t doubt that the president-elect is going to win that vote.”
"If nothing else, this will give us a very good audit," said Thomsen, adding, "It's going to reassure Wisconsin voters that we have a fair system, that we're not counting illegal votes."
According to Wisconsin’s election commission, the recount will cost $3.5 million, an amount the candidates must pay in full by Tuesday.
“Absent of a complete payment tomorrow, there will be no recount,” Thomsen said.
Stein raised more than $5 million in two days to file for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while her campaign could only raise $3.5 million for the November 8 presidential election.
Stein also filed for a recount in Pennsylvania on Monday.
“We must recount the votes so we can build trust in our election system. We need to verify the vote in this and every election so that Americans of all parties can be sure we have a fair, secure and accurate voting system,” Stein said in a statement.
The campaign of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s rival, said that it would take part in a recount in Wisconsin and then later on in the other two states.
Meanwhile, Trump claimed on Sunday that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
His allegation of election fraud, however, has been dismissed by the White House as well as other experts and elected officials.
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