Connie Tews counts ballots in Kenosha, Wisconsin on December 2, 2016, as part of the Wisconsin recount. (Getty)
Wisconsin recount returns for day 4 show that Donald Trump has continued to inch ahead of Hillary Clinton, gaining just over three dozen more net votes.
(UPDATE: You can now see day 5 recount results for Wisconsin here. They show a similar trend: Trump has improved on his election day lead slightly as a result of the recount so far.)
The Election Commission does not add up recount returns when they come in, but, rather, places the raw numbers on a spreadsheet that includes each reporting municipality. Heavy has tallied the returns by county from the Election Commission’s day 4 spreadsheet (it also includes returns from days 1, 2, and 3.) The December 4 spreadsheet is updated with more new returns each day. Details on gained and lost vote counts per county are listed later in this article.
What’s happening is this: Each major candidate is losing small numbers of votes here or there in the $3.5 million recount, but each is also gaining small numbers of votes here or there, so it is all basically a wash, as Trump slightly extends his lead and day 4 shows no indications of any significant change. Wisconsin uses a mixture of paper ballots and machines for voting, and some returns are being counted by hand, but others are not.
Day 4 totals:
Trump gained 356 votes
Trump lost 246 votes
Trump net gain on day 4: 110 votes
Clinton gained 296 votes
Clinton lost 225 votes
Clinton net gain on day 4: 71 votes
Thus, Trump has inched ahead by another net 39 votes as of day 4 of the recount.
The totals don’t count the City of Milwaukee; Some other websites are adding those in, but it’s extremely misleading to do so at this point. That’s because the City of Milwaukee’s wards currently show large deficits for each candidate in lost votes, but that’s just because the city hasn’t recounted absentee ballots yet, so the deficits are misleading, and it’s not clear yet how many votes Trump or Clinton lost in each of those city wards. You’d have to know how many absentee ballots they each have to know, and those aren’t yet in.
This doesn’t mean the counties below are done with the recount; in most cases, they are still counting, and only some villages, towns and cities have completed their recounts. Heavy added up those communities that have reported per county, but be aware the county totals for many will change in subsequent days as more municipalities come in.
The Wisconsin Election Commission also reported the following on Day 4 of the recount:
“These are the explanations provided by the clerks for difference in numbers between canvass and the recount:
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 canvased by the board during the recount.
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 draw-down 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 Canvas.
Racine County: Increase of 13 votes for Clinton/Kaine, votes were not counted on Election Night due to non-standard pens used to mark ballots.”
The top of the Election Commission spreadsheet.
The Wisconsin recount was requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who received 1 percent of the national vote in the 2016 presidential election. She wants to verify the election’s integrity, arguing that the returns could have been hacked or manipulated (while presenting no evidence to back up that such a thing occurred). Hillary Clinton’s campaign then announced it would participate in the Wisconsin recount, and Donald Trump’s campaign has called it a “scam.”
Trump won Wisconsin by just over 22,000 votes. Wisconsin was one of a trifecta of Midwestern states that helped give Trump the White House, and it was a surprise upset because it had not voted for a Republican for president since the 1980s. Stein is also pursuing recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, both of which are bogged down in legal battles; she initially said she was dropping the Pennsylvania recount due to cost, but then reversed course and said she will vigorously pursue it in the federal court system. Clinton would need all three of those states to flip to win the Electoral College, which meets December 19.
A scene from the Wisconsin recount. (Getty)
Here are the compiled returns for Day 4 of the Wisconsin recount, using the December 4 spreadsheet posted by the Election Commission. You can find the raw data here.
One more caveat: The Election Commission website appears to have an error on the spreadsheet in which the tiny village of St. Francis, in Milwaukee County, is reporting large numbers of lost votes for both Clinton and Trump. The Election Commission spokesman, Reid Magney, said he would look into the matter on December 5.
However, the city clerk of St. Francis, Anne Uecker, told Heavy on December 4 that the St. Francis returns had actually balanced with those from Election Day. Thus, it appears the returns from another small community were accidentally placed on the St. Francis lines as they match the returns exactly for the other community but for one vote (a similar error occurred in Day 2 returns, in which the Election Commission had placed the wrong small community on another community’s line). Had the St. Francis returns been on the right line, that would give Trump an additional single vote loss in the totals below (out of South Milwaukee). As they appear erroneous per the clerk’s response, the St. Francis deficits are not included below. They wouldn’t change the election bottom line, though, even if included, as these are small communities whose vote totals altogether don’t come anywhere near Trump’s 22,000-vote margin.
Day 4
Where Donald Trump lost votes
Adams County -12
Brown County -3
Buffalo County -3
Calumet County -6
Chippewa County -1
Clark County -2
Columbia County -2
Crawford County -11
Dane County -6
Dodge County -10
Door County -4
Douglas County -6
Dunn County -5
Eau Claire County -1
Fond du Lac County -10
Forest County -3
Grant County -16
Green Lake County -8
Iowa County -1
Iron County -9
Jackson County -1
Jefferson County -1
Juneau County -11
Kenosha County -3
Manitowoc County -3
Marathon County -8
Marinette County -5
Marquette County -3
Menominee County -2
MKE County City of Cudahy -2
MKE County Village of Brown Deer -1
Monroe County -7
Oneida County -1
Outagamie County -6
Pierce County -1
Polk County -4
Portage County -3
Price County -7
Racine County -8
Richland County -11
Rock County -1
Sauk County -1
Shawano County -1
St. Croix County -3
Walworth County -4
Washburn County -2
Washington County -4
Waukesha County -7
Waupaca County -9
Waushara County -1
Winnebago County -6
(Trump -1 South Milwaukee. Appears that SM returns were placed on the St. Francis line)
Where Donald Trump gained votes
Adams County +4
Barron County +4
Brown County +5
Buffalo County +2
Calumet County +6
Clark County +5
Columbia County +3
Crawford County +3
Dane County +12
Dodge County +4
Douglas County +6
Eau Claire County +19
Fond du Lac County +1
Forest County +2
Grant County +6
Green Lake County +11
Jackson County +1
Jefferson County +9
Juneau County +7
Kenosha County +7
Kewaunee County +1
Manitowoc County +7
Marathon County +2
Marinette County +3
Marquette County +2
MKE CO City of Cudahy +1
MKE Co Village of Greendale +1
MKE Co Village of Hales Corners +1
Monroe County +2
Oneida County +6
Outagamie County +3
Ozaukee County +33
Pierce County +11
Polk County +1
Portage County +8
Price County +4
Racine County +10
Richland County +5
Rock County +3
Sauk County +9
Shawano County +19
St. Croix County +3
Trempeleau County +5
Walworth County +16
Washburn County +33
Washington County +18
Waukesha County +1
Waupaca County +22
Waushara County +1
Winnebago County +6
Wood County +2
Where Hillary Clinton lost votes
Adams County -11
Brown County -4
Buffalo County -2
Calumet County -6
Chippewa County -1
Clark County -4
Columbia County -5
Crawford County -7
Dane County -5
Dodge County -2
Door County -10
Douglas County -2
Fond du Lac County -12
Forest County -5
Grant County -13
Green Lake County -9
Iron County -1
Jefferson County -1
Juneau County -5
Kenosha County -2
Manitowoc County -7
Marathon County -8
Marinette County -5
Marquette County -2
Menominee County -1
MKE Co City of Cudahy -1
MKE Co Village of Bayside -1
MKE Co Village of Fox Point -1
Monroe County -4
Outagamie County -9
Polk County -4
Portage County -4
Price County -7
Racine County -7
Richland County -6
Rock County -6
Sauk County -2
Shawano County -1
Trempeleau County -3
Walworth County -4
Washburn County -1
Washington County -7
Waukesha County -2
Waupaca County -2
Winnebago County -19
Wood County -4
Where Hillary Clinton gained votes
Adams County +2
Brown County +5
Calumet County +5
Columbia County +3
Crawford County +1
Dane County +39
Dodge County +3
Douglas County +14
Eau Claire County +30
Fond du Lac County +2
Grant County +13
Green Lake County +1
Iron County +3
Jefferson County +10
Juneau County +6
Kenosha County +5
Kewaunee County +4
Manitowoc County +24
Marathon County +3
Marinette County +1
Marquette County +2
MKE CO Village of Brown Deer +1
Oneida County +1
Outagamie County +1
Ozaukee County +1
Pierce County +4
Polk County +2
Portage County +11
Price County +5
Racine County +37
Richland County +2
Rock County +1
Sauk County +5
Sawyer County +1
Shawano County +6
St. Croix County +2
Trempeleau County +1
Walworth County +10
Washington County +4
Waukesha County +1
Waupaca County +12
Waushara County +1
Winnebago County +9
Wood County +2