Gov. Scott Walker expressed support for a bill introduced Tuesday by Republican legislators that would limit state and local candidate’s ability to call for election recounts.
The bill requires candidates to be “aggrieved,” meaning they would have to lose within one percent of the winner’s vote total in an election with at least 4,000 votes, according to the Associated Press. If the election doesn’t total 4,000 votes, the candidate requesting a recount must have lost by a margin of 40 votes.
If passed, the bill would also reimburse the State Election Commission for any expenses used, give county clerks 15 additional days to identify their costs and cut the state’s recount deadline by two days.
The bill is a reaction to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her Wisconsin recount last year. The recount of the swing state’s 72 counties revealed that President Donald Trump won an additional 163 votes.
The recounts will still be funded by taxpayers when the difference is within 0.25 percent of the vote total. Trump won Wisconsin with 47 percent. Stein earned one percent of the vote.
Walker stated that the bill, sponsored by Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac and Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, was sensible.
“People would expect that someone who’s close should have a shot to have a recount, but to have someone who is in third or fourth place, I think a lot of people, regardless of party, rolled their eyes when that happened,” Walker said.
State Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling said the bill wasn’t addressing a pressing issue.
“I haven’t had a single person come up to me saying we need less election accountability,” Shilling told the Wisconsin State Journal. “This bill is another example of how out-out-touch Republican politicians are with the challenges facing hard-working families in Wisconsin.”
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell told the Wisconsin State Journal that candidates who do not record more than one or two percent of the vote should not be able to buy a recount.
