Wisconsin officials agree to proceed with vote recount, but not without 'full payment'
Elections Supervisor Ross Hein set out the timetable following the recount requests Friday by Stein and Independent Party candidate Rocky De La Fuente.
Stein has argued that the recount -- joined over the weekend by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton -- is to ensure that Russia or anybody else has not tampered with the country’s election system.
However, Stein is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
She has raised $6.2 million toward her goal of $7 million and made her official request in Wisconsin on Friday.
Wisconsin commission officials told FoxNews.com on Monday that staffers are scheduled to have a solid cost estimate by about 3 p.m. Monday and that Stein and/or La Fuente will have to pay additional money if the staff underestimates the cost.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump won in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and holds a slim lead in Michigan, in his Nov. 8 upset victory.
Wisconsin's unofficial election results show Trump with 1.4 million votes, compared to 1.38 million to Clinton.
Trump over the weekend called the effort “ridiculous” and a Stein fundraising “scam.”
Hillary for America attorney Marc Elias said Saturday the decision to join in the recount came after numerous meeting with experts and an outpouring of requests “urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton.”
Under federal law, the recount must be done by Dec. 13.
Heim said that on Wednesday, if the money is received, all 72 county clerks will begin reviewing recount procedures, with the physical process beginning Thursday.
“Absent the payment, there will not be” a recount, commission Chairman Mark Thomsen said Monday.
Wisconsin law calls for the state to perform a recount at a candidate's request as long as he or she can pay for it. The state has never performed a presidential recount. Election officials estimate the effort will cost up to $1 million.
While there is no evidence of election tampering in the states, Green Party spokesman George Martin insisted "the American public needs to have it investigated to make sure our votes count."
Thomsen also said he didn’t expect to find more the 300 questionable ballots.
“If nothing else, this will give us audit,” he said. “We are not counting illegal people. We are not counting dead people’s votes.”
Elections Supervisor Ross Hein set out the timetable following the recount requests Friday by Stein and Independent Party candidate Rocky De La Fuente.
Stein has argued that the recount -- joined over the weekend by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton -- is to ensure that Russia or anybody else has not tampered with the country’s election system.
However, Stein is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
She has raised $6.2 million toward her goal of $7 million and made her official request in Wisconsin on Friday.
Wisconsin commission officials told FoxNews.com on Monday that staffers are scheduled to have a solid cost estimate by about 3 p.m. Monday and that Stein and/or La Fuente will have to pay additional money if the staff underestimates the cost.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump won in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and holds a slim lead in Michigan, in his Nov. 8 upset victory.
Wisconsin's unofficial election results show Trump with 1.4 million votes, compared to 1.38 million to Clinton.
Trump over the weekend called the effort “ridiculous” and a Stein fundraising “scam.”
Hillary for America attorney Marc Elias said Saturday the decision to join in the recount came after numerous meeting with experts and an outpouring of requests “urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton.”
Under federal law, the recount must be done by Dec. 13.
Heim said that on Wednesday, if the money is received, all 72 county clerks will begin reviewing recount procedures, with the physical process beginning Thursday.
“Absent the payment, there will not be” a recount, commission Chairman Mark Thomsen said Monday.
Wisconsin law calls for the state to perform a recount at a candidate's request as long as he or she can pay for it. The state has never performed a presidential recount. Election officials estimate the effort will cost up to $1 million.
While there is no evidence of election tampering in the states, Green Party spokesman George Martin insisted "the American public needs to have it investigated to make sure our votes count."
Thomsen also said he didn’t expect to find more the 300 questionable ballots.
“If nothing else, this will give us audit,” he said. “We are not counting illegal people. We are not counting dead people’s votes.”
