Trump campaign coughs up $3 million for partial Wisconsin recount

The Trump campaign parted with $3 million Wednesday morning for a partial recount of Wisconsin. Predictably, the recount the campaign is requesting is focused on heavily Democratic Dane County and Milwaukee County, since Team Trump regards Democratic votes as inherently suspicious.

President-elect Joe Biden got 577,455 votes in those counties, and won Wisconsin as a whole by 20,608 votes. A recount of the entire state would have cost $7.9 million, to be paid up front.

A recount would start this week and needs to be completed by Dec. 1. It's extremely unlikely—virtually impossible, even—that even a statewide recount would net Trump more than 20,000 votes. A 2016 recount of the state got him an additional 131 votes. In Georgia's recount this year, Trump did chip away at Biden's lead when 2,600 uncounted ballots were found in a heavily Republican county, but even then he didn't come close to overturning Georgia's results. And the Georgia margin was closer than the Wisconsin one.

Trump's recount demand in Wisconsin comes as the state recorded its highest single day of COVID-19 deaths.