As Donald Trump lashed out via Twitter at Hillary Clinton Sunday over her campaign's decision to join the recount process in Wisconsin, state election officials announced that a recount will probably start Thursday.
At a meeting Monday morning, Wisconsin Elections Commission staff will ask the commission to approve a schedule that would start the recount in all 72 counties on Thursday. Under federal law, any presidential election disputes must be resolved within 35 days of Election Day.
Meawhle, Trump unleashed a flurry of Twitter posts criticizing the recount in Wisconsin and claimed that millions voted illegally, though there is no evidence of that happening.
"So much time and money will be spent — same result! Sad" Trump said in one Twitter post.
On Sunday afternoon he followed up: "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
The Clinton campaign announced Saturday that it would participate in the Wisconsin recount sought by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and may join Stein-backed efforts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
While Clinton officials said they have seen no evidence of vote tampering, and do not expect the results in any state to change, they believe their campaign must be represented during any recount.
Trump beat Clinton by 22,000 votes in Wisconsin. No Republican presidential candidate had won the state since 1984.In a memorandum issued with Monday's meeting notice, Wisconsin Elections Commission Interim Administrator Michael Haas and Elections Supervisor Ross Hein outlined a very tight schedule to meet the Dec. 13 deadline.
"It will be a significant challenge to complete a statewide recount of nearly 3 million votes in less than two weeks. County canvass boards and (commission) staff will need to put in a substantial amount of extended hours throughout the next few weeks," the memorandum said.If approved at a meeting Monday morning in Madison, here's how the recount will be conducted:
Monday, cost estimates and vote tabulation method will be provided by county clerks to the commission by noon. Commission officials will provide estimated statewide costs to the campaigns of Stein and independent candidate Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente by the end of the day.
Tuesday, the Stein and De La Fuente campaigns pay for the recount. Once full payment is received by either campaign, the commission will issue a recount order.
Wednesday, Elections Commission staff will hold a teleconference in the morning for all county clerks and canvass members to outline the process and rules of a recount. Since a 24-hour public-meeting notice is required for the recount, each county must post its notice by Wednesday.
Thursday, the recount begins in every Wisconsin county.
Dec. 13, all county canvass boards must be completed by noon. Elections Commission staff will prepare the official recount canvass certification by 3 p.m.
Stein and De La Fuente separately filed recount requests late Friday, the last day they were able to do so. Stein received about 31,000 votes and De La Fuente about 1,500 out of 3 million cast in Wisconsin. The cost for Wisconsin's recount could top $1 million which either Stein or De La Fuente, or both, must pay.
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