Workers recount ballots in Dane County (Photo: Andrew Beckett)
The actual cost of Wisconsin’s presidential recount might end up being much less than originally expected.
Reimbursement requests submitted to the Wisconsin Elections Commission by 69 of the state’s 72 counties show the actual cost of those clerks doing the recount was just over $1.8 million – well below the almost $3.9 million clerks had originally told the state the recount would cost.
The three clerks who have not yet reported numbers to the state are from Brown, Kenosha, and Pierce counties, which had combined cost estimates of just under $510,000. Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Mike Haas said Milwaukee County’s final numbers were also preliminary, due some pending invoices.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested and paid for the recount, which wrapped up earlier this month. Her campaign already gave the state $3.5 million. Any money left over from that payment will be reimbursed to the campaign.