Wisconsin Recount Day 6 Update: It’s Basically a Wash so Far

michigan recount lawsuit, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette recount

Shelia Banks Parks, of Massachusetts and a Jill Stein designated observer, video tapes presidential ballots being recounted in Dane County on December 1, 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Getty Images)

The Wisconsin recount has hit the day 6 halfway point, and, after six days of counting, Hillary Clinton has now gained a net total of a couple votes.

That means the recount by Day 6 has brought the election totals back to almost exactly where they were before, for the two major party candidates.

(Update: You can now read the Election Commission’s official day 7 tallies here; they also show that Trump overall has retained his lead in Wisconsin.)

Overall, since the $3.5 million recount started, Trump has lost more votes than Clinton (slightly), but he’s also gained more (slightly).

None of it’s enough to even remotely alter the election so far; Trump won Wisconsin by more than 22,000 votes. Although a series of small errors have been found in many communities, they are not great in number. It’s all basically a wash so far. The errors have included such things as use of non-standard pens, ballots jamming, missing witness signatures, and a stack of ballots being missed on election day. Little had changed each day of the recount so far, although Trump had gained a net couple votes for a while.

The Wisconsin Election Commission is releasing totals for the recount daily on a spreadsheet, but the Commission does not tally up the numbers. Instead, the Commission presents them in raw form by municipality. Heavy has tallied up the lost and gained votes for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for each county. These are the most current numbers on the day 6 spreadsheet, as of the morning of December 7.

The totals show for day 6:

Trump has lost 429 votes
Trump has gained 568 votes
Clinton has lost 405 votes
Clinton has gained 546 votes

Trump has gained a net of 139 votes
Clinton has gained a net of 141 votes

Clinton has gained a net of 2 votes after 6 days. (Specific tallies are at the end of this article).

The City of Milwaukee tallies are not yet included because, even though the spreadsheet shows deficits for city wards, Milwaukee hasn’t counted absentee ballots yet so the deficits are misleading.

The recount was requested by Green Party nominee Jill Stein to the tune of $3.5 million. Stein also forced a recount in Michigan, which is now in its second day (in day 1, there were reports in Michigan of polling lists not reconciling with machine printouts of votes in Democratic strongholds that favored Clinton). However, a judge has now ruled that Stein does not have standing to pursue the Michigan recount, so it’s up in the air. Stein is suing to force a Pennsylvania recount, but time is running out. The Electoral College meets December 19. States like Wisconsin must complete their recounts by December 13; thus, Wisconsin is counting until the evening of December 12. Trump supporters have sued to stop the recount, but a judge has allowed it to go forward at least until the hearing.

The Election Commission reported these explanations from various counties about why some results had errors in them:

“Adams County: 9 absentee ballot envelopes rejected by recount canvass due to missing witness addresses. A drawdown was done resulting in a loss of 5 votes for Trump/Pence and a loss of 4 votes for Clinton/Kaine.

Total 28 vote change (8 vote net loss) in Town of Springville Wards 1-2 due to human error during original town Board of Canvass.

Dane County: 12 Absentee ballots were left in their certificate envelopes, unopened, on Election Night, for City of Monona Wards 6-10. Ballots were opened and canvassed by the board during the recount.

23 Absentee ballots were left in their certificate envelopes on Election Night for the City of Fitchburg Wards 1-4.

Eau Claire County: Increase of 11 votes in Town of Brunswick and 13 votes in Town of Seymour due to ballots marked incorrectly on Election Day.

Increase of 12 votes in City of Eau Claire Ward 30 from ballots that were uncounted on Election Night due to a paper jam.

Fond Du Lac County: 13 absentee envelopes were missing from Election Night and 1 absentee ballot counted on Election Night was rejected during recount canvassing of Town of Fond Du Lac Wards 1-8. A drawdown was done resulting in a loss of 7 votes for Trump/Pence and a loss of 7 votes for Clinton/Kaine.

Grant County: Village of Woodman and Village of Livingston removed from Day 4 results pending verification of recount numbers by Grant County Board of Canvass. Numbers are re-verified and have been added to the Day 6 results.

Kenosha County: Net change of 22 votes in Town of Somers Ward 2 due to discrepancy in original canvass numbers from Election Night. -1 for Trump/Pence, +3 for Castle/Bradley, +12 for Johnson/Weld, and +6 for Stein/Baraka.

Langlade County: Increase of 39 votes for Trump/Pence in Town of Rolling Wards 1-2 due to an addition discrepancy in Election Night reporting.

Manitowoc County: Increase of 24 votes in Town of Centerville due to a stack ballots missed on Election Day.

Marathon County: Adjustment to votes reported in the City of Abbotsford. No voters live in Ward 6 and all votes have been correctly added to Ward 1 totals. There is no change in the net number of votes; +7 votes to Ward 1 and -7 votes in Ward 6.

Decrease of 11 votes in Town of Stetin Wards 1-2 due to absentee envelopes rejected by recount canvass: 6 envelopes missing a witness signature and 5 envelopes missing a witness address. A drawdown was done resulting in a loss of 5 votes for Trump/Pence, a loss of 5 votes for Clinton/Kaine and loss of 1 vote for Johnson/Weld.

Menominee County: Increase in 29 votes in Town of Menominee Wards 1,3-5 due to human error; vote counts were left off of the Election Night tally sheet. +12 votes for Johnson/Weld and +17 votes for Stein/Baraka

Milwaukee County: Town of Hales Corners Wards 7-9 numbers have been corrected and now reflect accurate recount totals as of the Day 6 update.

Outagamie County: Addition of 1 vote to Day 5’s City of Appleton Ward 41 totals. A Ward 41 ballot was found with ballots for Ward 38 during the recount.

Ozaukee County: Increase of 29 votes in Village of Newburg Ward 3 due to a discrepancy in original canvass results for Trump/Pence numbers.

Racine County: Increase of 13 votes for Clinton/Kaine in City of Racine Ward 4. Votes were not counted on Election Night due to non-standard pens used to mark ballots.

Richland County: Town of Buena Vista Wads 1-3 removed from Day 6 results pending further verification of recount numbers by Richland County Board of Canvass.

Sheboygan County: Increase of 26 votes in City of Plymouth Wards 10-12. Votes were not counted on Election Night due to human error and voter intent was determined during recount.

Vernon County: Increase of 35 votes in City of Viroqua Wards 1-9 due to ballots not being read by the voting machine on Election Night. +9 for Trump/Pence, +22 for Clinton/Kaine, +1 for Castle/Bradley, +2 for Johnson/Weld, and +1 for Stein/Baraka.

Walworth County: Increase of 10 votes in Town of Whitewater Wards 1-2 due to ballot jams on Election Day.

Washburn County: Discrepancies in Town of Bashaw were due to an discrepancy in the previous certification. The total ballots for Trump/Pence should have been 385 instead of the 352 reported.

Waukesha County: Addition of 1 vote to Day 5’s Town of Delafield Wards 1,2,5,6 totals. Corrected to show 1 additional vote for Trump/Pence.”

Here are the specific losses and gains for Day 6 of the recount:


Where Trump lost votes

Adams -21
Brown County -3
Buffalo County -3
Burnett County -1
Calumet County -7
Chippewa County -1
Clark County -3
Columbia County -4
Crawford County -11
Dane County -21
Dodge County -12
Door County -4
Douglas County -6
Dunn County -5
Eau Claire -1
Fond du Lac County -20
Forest County -3
Grant County -18
Green Lake -8
Iowa County -1
Iron County -9
Jackson County -1
Jefferson County -1
Juneau -11
Kenosha -5
La Crosse -16
Langlade -6
Lincoln -2
Manitowoc -4
Marathon -28
Marinette -5
Marquette -3
Menominee -2
City of Cudahy -2
South Milwaukee -1
Brown Deer -1
Monroe -9
Oneida -1
Outagamie -12
Ozaukee -1
Pierce -1
Polk -11
Portage -4 ¬¬
Price -7
Racine -30
Richland -12
Rock -3
Sauk -4
Sheboygan -4
St. Croix -4
Taylor -11
Vernon -2
Vilas -3
Walworth -5
Washburn -2
Washington -8
Waukesha -16
Waupaca -9
Waushara -2
Winnebago -13
Wood -5


Where Trump gained votes

Adams County +4
Barron County +8
Brown County +11
Buffalo County +2
Burnett County +1
Calumet County +12
Clark County +9
Columbia County +8
Crawford County +3
Dane County +23
Dodge County +4
Douglas County +6
Dunn County +3
Eau Claire +26
Florence County +1
Fond du Lac County +3
Forest County +2
Grant County +7
Green Lake +11
Jackson County +1
Jefferson +9
Juneau +7
Kenosha +8
Kewaunee +1
LaCrosse +6
Langlade +48
Lincoln +2
Manitowoc +10
Marathon +9
Marinette +3
Marquette +2
Cudahy +1
Greendale +1
Hales Corners +1
Monroe +6
Oneida +7
Outagamie +4
Ozaukee +35
Pierce +16
Polk +6
Portage +12
Price +4
Racine +27
Richland +2
Rock +4
Sauk +12
Sawyer +1
Sheboygan +44
St. Croix +7
Trempeleau +5
Vernon +9
Walworth +17
Washburn +34
Washington +21
Waukesha +4
Waupaca +22
Waushara +1
Winnebago +11
Wood +4


Where Clinton lost votes

Adams County -27
Barron County -1
Brown County -5
Buffalo County -5
Calumet County -6
Chippewa County -1
Clark County -8
Columbia County -6
Crawford -7
Dane County -12
Dodge -3
Door County -12
Douglas County -2
Dunn County -1
Florence -1
Fond du Lac -16
Forest -5
Grant County -16
Green Lake -9
Iowa County -3
Iron County -1
Jefferson -2
Juneau -5
Kenosha -4
La Crosse -9
Langlade -12
Lincoln -1
Manitowoc -10
Marathon -20
Marinette -5
Marquette -2
Menominee -1
Cudahy -1
Bayside -1
Fox Point -1
Monroe -5
Outagamie -20
Ozaukee County -1
Pierce -5
Polk -8
Portage -11
Price -7
Racine -23
Richland -10
Rock -8
Sauk -6
Sawyer -1
Sheboygan -6
St. Croix -1
Taylor -4
Trempeleau -3
Vernon -1
Walworth -10
Washburn -2
Washington -9
Waukesha -8
Waupaca -2
Winnebago -25
Wood -8


Where Clinton gained votes

Adams County +2
Barron County +11
Brown County +15
Burnett County +1
Calumet County +5
Clark County +1
Columbia County +8
Crawford +1
Dane County +82
Dodge County +3
Douglas County +14
Dunn County +2
Eau Claire County +44
Fond du Lac County +6
Grant County +15
Green Lake +1
Iowa County +2
Iron County +3
Jefferson +11
Juneau +6
Kenosha +10
Kewaunee +4
La Crosse +6
Langlade +2
Lincoln +2
Manitowoc +28
Marathon +7
Marinette +1
Marquette +2
Brown Deer +1
Monroe County +3
Oneida +2
Outagamie +1
Ozaukee +3
Pierce +8
Polk +3
Portage +15
Price +5
Racine +79
Richland +2
Rock +1
Sauk +5
Sawyer +1
Sheboygan +36
St. Croix +3
Trempeleau +1
Vernon +22
Walworth +14
Washington +8
Waukesha +6
Waupaca +12
Waushara +1
Winnebago +16
Wood +3