Wisconsin Green Party co-chairman George Martin said that they were seeking a "reconciliation of paper records" -- a request that would go one step further than a simple recount, spurring, he said, an investigation into the integrity of the state's voting system.

"This is a process, a first step to examine whether our electoral democracy is working," Martin said.

The announcement came as Green Party candidate Jill Stein's Thanksgiving fundraising blitz passed $5 million. The money is well beyond the $2 million mark the Green Party initially set, and Wisconsin party officials said that any additional money not used for the recount would be used to train Green Party candidates for local office. The goal as of Friday was to raise $7 million.

"We don't know, and we think the forensic computer experts have raised serious questions. What we do know is that this was a hack-riddled election, we saw hacks into voter databases, into party databases, into individual email accounts. We know that there were attempts made broadly on state voter databases and we know that we have an election system that relies a computer system that is wide open to hacks," Stein told CNN's John Berman Thursday. "It's extremely vulnerable, Americans deserve to have confidence in our vote."

Late Friday afternoon, the Wisconsin Elections Board said it had received the petition from Stein and the Green Party and "is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes." "We have assembled an internal team to direct the recount, we have been in close consultation with our county clerk partners, and have arranged for legal representation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice," Wisconsin Elections Board Administrator Michael Haas said. "We plan to hold a teleconference meeting for county clerks next week and anticipate the recount will begin late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount fee, which we are still calculating." Hacking experts alerted the Clinton campaign earlier this week it was possible, based on voter low turnouts in some counties with electronic voting, that voting systems might have been hacked. But nobody has presented any evidence yet that they were tampered with. Even if Stein and others succeed in winning recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, it's unclear they would be enough to swing the election from Trump to Hillary Clinton, with Trump holding leads as big as more than 60,000 votes in Pennsylvania. When Florida officials launched their recount in 2000, the margin was just 537 votes. The Clinton campaign has stayed out of the recount debate, which sprouted up over the Thanksgiving holiday, even though it was a conference call that election hacking experts had with her campaign staff which led to the drive. The Trump campaign and his top advisers have dismissed the effort. Former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tweeted on Thanksgiving that their opponents were being sore losers. "Look who 'can't accept the election results' Hillary Clinton Supporters Call for Vote Recount in Battleground States," Conway wrote. Look who "can't accept the election results" Hillary Clinton Supporters Call for Vote Recount in Battleground States https://t.co/D4t6HbPUXG — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) November 24, 2016</s>An election recount will take place soon in Wisconsin, after former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed a petition Friday with the state’s Elections Commission, the first of three states where she has promised to contest the election result.

The move from Stein, who raised millions since her Wednesday announcement that she would seek recounts of Donald Trump’s apparent election victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, came just 90 minutes before Wisconsin’s 5 p.m. Friday deadline to file a petition. Now it will keep some hope alive for many Hillary Clinton supporters for another few weeks while Wisconsin recounts ballots before a Dec. 13 deadline.

Trump scored upset victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and seems on the path to declare a victory in Michigan as well, although the result of the election in that state will not be certified officially until Monday. Had Clinton won those three states, previously seen as part of the Democrats’ “firewall,” she would have secured enough votes in the Electoral College to win the election.

Stein announced her intention to file the petition following reports that a group of data experts and election lawyers were urging Clinton to demand a recount in those three states, on suspicion that a cyberattack could have manipulated the results of the election in those states. While the group had no specific proof of hacking, they noted irregularities suggesting Clinton routinely did more poorly in Wisconsin counties that used voting machines, as opposed to those that relied on paper ballots.

Trump secured a total of 1,404,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to the commission; Clinton had 1,381,823. Stein secured 31,006 votes.

To be on the safe side, the group of experts urged a recount – but it was Stein’s campaign that ended up demanding one, soliciting at first $2.5 million and later up to $7 million to fund the recounts. As of Friday evening, Stein’s campaign reported taking in over $5.25 million in recount-related donations – the most by a third-party candidate in history.

Wisconsin has the first deadline of the three states in question. If Stein’s campaign wishes to file recount petitions in the other states as promised, she must do so by Monday to meet Pennsylvania’s deadline, and Wednesday to meet Michigan’s deadline.

In the end, Stein was not the only presidential candidate to demand a recount. Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, the Reform Party nominee who got 1,514 Wisconsin votes, also filed a recount petition, according to the state’s Elections Commission.

In a statement, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas guessed that the cost and complexity of the recount would be in excess of the state’s last recount in 2011, which carried a price tag of more than $520,000. In that recount over a state Supreme Court seat, the commission had to recount 1.5 million votes – about half the 2.975 million ballot votes that were cast during the 2016 presidential election.

Stein put a note on her Facebook page on Friday, asking supporters “to consider volunteering to help in the recount process.”

The county boards of canvassers will conduct the recount, according to the commission’s statement, and will have the authority “to decide which ballots should and should not be counted,” Haas said.

If the candidates disagree with the results of the Wisconsin recount, they will have five business days to contest the outcome in court.</s>The former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in Wisconsin, her campaign team has announced.

The Midwestern state was a key battleground in the November 8 election, helping propel the Republican President-elect Donald Trump past his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to a victory that shocked the nation.

“Raising money to pay for the first round so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organising.”

The recount demands could reignite concern over the legitimacy of the vote, which followed a bitter presidential campaign that included persistent charges of foreign hacking and rigging.

Stein’s campaign has cited unspecified “anomalies” in the election as grounds to request a recount in Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania and Michigan, also swing states.

“The unexpected results of the election and reported anomalies need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified,” Stein said on her website.

Wisconsin swung Republican for the time since voters there helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1984.

DECIDING MAJORITY

Mr Trump also won by a slim margin in Pennsylvania, where a recount filing fee costs $500,000, due on November 28.

The filing fee in Michigan — where Mr Trump has a razor-thin lead in unofficial results so far — is $600,000 due by November 30.

Mr Stein’s campaign has currently raised $2.7 million toward its $4.5 million goal.

The campaign anticipates eventually needing $6 million to $7 million to cover attorney fees and statewide recount observation costs.

Mrs Clinton is more than two million votes ahead of Trump in the popular vote count.

Her 1.5 percentage point lead in the popular vote makes no difference to the outcome of the election, however, because Trump won the deciding majority of indirect votes in the Electoral College.</s>There will be a recount of the US presidential vote in Wisconsin in a blow to Donald Trump's preparation for the presidency.

Failed Green Party candidate Jill Stein has also stepped up her bid to force two other key Midwestern battlegrounds, Michigan and Pennsylvania, to do the same.

In a move that could complicate President-elect Donald Trump's push for national unity as he continues to shape his White House team, Ms Green formally requested a Wisconsin recount on Friday, and vowed to do the same in the coming days in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin officials confirmed on Friday evening they would move forward with the first presidential recount in state history.

Ms Stein gained little more than 1 per cent of the national vote, and there is no evidence of election tampering in the states where Mr Trump scored razor-thin victories.

But Green Party spokesman George Martin insisted "the American public needs to have it investigated to make sure our votes count".

He said: "We're doing this to ensure the integrity of our system."

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leads the national popular vote by close to two million votes.

Mr Trump scored narrow victories in key battleground states, however, giving him the necessary 270 electoral votes to assume the presidency.

He won in Pennsylvania, and in Wisconsin, breaking a Democratic winning streak dating back 32 years. Mr Trump also holds a slim lead in Michigan, where a Republican presidential candidate had not won since 1988; The Associated Press still has not officially called that race.

Wisconsin, where Mr Trump leads by little more than 22,000 votes, will conduct an unprecedented presidential recount, state administrator Michael Haas announced, citing requests by Ms Stein and independent candidate Rocky De La Fuente.

"The commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for president of the United States, as requested by these candidates," Mr Haas said, noting that the recount is expected to be completed by the December 13 federal deadline.

In Michigan, Mr Trump's 10,704-vote lead is expected to be certified by the state elections board on Monday. The deadline to ask for a recount is Wednesday.

A statewide recount would cost Ms Stein roughly $790,000, said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Michigan secretary of state.

An opposing candidate would have seven days to file objections to the recount petition, after which the board would schedule a public hearing and later issue a ruling on the objections.</s>Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in Wisconsin (AFP Photo/Win McNamee)

Washington (AFP) - The former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in Wisconsin, her campaign announced Thursday.

The Midwestern state was a key battleground in the November 8 election, helping propel the Republican President-elect Donald Trump past his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to a victory that shocked the nation.

"Congratulations on meeting the recount costs for Wisconsin," Stein's website read.

"Raising money to pay for the first round so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing."

The recount demands could reignite concern over the legitimacy of the vote, which followed a bitter presidential campaign that included persistent charges of foreign hacking and rigging.

Stein's campaign has cited unspecified "anomalies" in the election as grounds to request a recount in Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania and Michigan, also swing states.

"The unexpected results of the election and reported anomalies need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified," Stein said on her website. "We deserve elections we can trust."

Wisconsin swung Republican for the time since voters there helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Trump also won by a slim margin in Pennsylvania, where a recount filing fee costs $500,000, due on November 28.

The filing fee in Michigan -- where Trump has a razor-thin lead in unofficial results so far -- is $600,000 due by November 30.

Stein's campaign has currently raised $2.7 million toward its $4.5 million goal. The campaign anticipates eventually needing $6 million to $7 million to cover attorney fees and statewide recount observation costs.

Clinton is more than two million votes ahead of Trump in the popular vote count.

Her 1.5 percentage point lead in the popular vote makes no difference to the outcome of the election, however, because Trump won the deciding majority of indirect votes in the Electoral College. Clinton conceded on November 9.</s>An election recount will take place soon in Wisconsin, after former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed a petition Friday with the state's Elections Commission, the first of three states where she has promised to contest the election result.

The move from Stein, who raised millions since her Wednesday announcement that she would seek recounts of Donald Trump's apparent election victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, came just 90 minutes before Wisconsin's 5 p.m. Friday deadline to file a petition. Now it will keep some hope alive for many Hillary Clinton supporters for another few weeks while Wisconsin recounts ballots before a Dec. 13 deadline.

Trump scored upset victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and seems on the path to declare a victory in Michigan as well, although the result of the election in that state will not be certified officially until Monday. Had Clinton won those three states, previously seen as part of the Democrats' "firewall," she would have secured enough votes in the Electoral College to win the election.

Stein announced her intention to file the petition following reports that a group of data experts and election lawyers were urging Clinton to demand a recount in those three states, on suspicion that a cyberattack could have manipulated the results of the election in those states. While the group had no specific proof of hacking, they noted irregularities suggesting Clinton routinely did more poorly in Wisconsin counties that used voting machines, as opposed to those that relied on paper ballots.

Trump secured a total of 1,404,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to the commission; Clinton had 1,381,823. Stein secured 31,006 votes.

To be on the safe side, the group of experts urged a recount - but it was Stein's campaign that ended up demanding one, soliciting at first $2.5 million and later up to $7 million to fund the recounts. As of Friday evening, Stein's campaign reported taking in over $5.25 million in recount-related donations - the most by a third-party candidate in history.

Wisconsin has the first deadline of the three states in question. If Stein's campaign wishes to file recount petitions in the other states as promised, she must do so by Monday to meet Pennsylvania's deadline, and Wednesday to meet Michigan's deadline.

In the end, Stein was not the only presidential candidate to demand a recount. Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente, the Reform Party nominee who got 1,514 Wisconsin votes, also filed a recount petition, according to the state's Elections Commission.

In a statement, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas guessed that the cost and complexity of the recount would be in excess of the state's last recount in 2011, which carried a price tag of more than $520,000. In that recount over a state Supreme Court seat, the commission had to recount 1.5 million votes - about half the 2.975 million ballot votes that were cast during the 2016 presidential election.

Stein put a note on her Facebook page on Friday, asking supporters "to consider volunteering to help in the recount process."

The county boards of canvassers will conduct the recount, according to the commission's statement, and will have the authority "to decide which ballots should and should not be counted," Haas said.

If the candidates disagree with the results of the Wisconsin recount, they will have five business days to contest the outcome in court.</s>The organization behind the presidential campaign for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, along with one other group, on Friday filed a petition with the Wisconsin Elections Commission for a recount of votes in the Nov. 8 election, the commission said.

“The Commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for President of the United States, as requested by these candidates,” Commission Administrator Michael Haas said in a statement.</s>The Wisconsin Elections Commission says it has received a petition from Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein to perform a recount of the vote in the state, which was narrowly won by President-elect Donald Trump on his way to victory in the electoral college on 8 November.

“The Commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for President of the United States,” the agency's ddministrator Michael Haas said in a statement.

“We have assembled an internal team to direct the recount, we have been in close consultation with our county clerk partners, and have arranged for legal representation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.”

Mr Haas said he would hold a teleconference meeting with county clerks in the coming days and expected that the recount would begin late next week, after Ms Stein's campaign submitted the necessary recount fee, which was still being calculated.

Ms Stein has raised more than $4.7m from a grassroots crowdfunding effort to pay for a manual recount of ballots in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan amid claims from computer experts and electoral lawyers that the vote totals in those states could have been manipulated.

All three states, which Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had been expecting to win, were instead claimed by Mr Trump. While no specific evidence of fraud or irregularity has been cited, the presidential campaign was thrown off track more than once by reported hacks into voter and party databases.

Prominent cybersecurity experts have recently said that although the chances of the election results being tampered with were slim, a recount would be the best way to ensure that results are valid.

“Let me be very clear: We do not have evidence of fraud. We do not have smoking guns. What we do have is an election that was surrounded by hacking,” Ms Stein wrote on her campaign website.

After filing for a recount in Wisconsin, and having raised sufficient funds for a similar petition in Pennsylvania, to be filed by Monday, “We will focus on raising the needed funds for Michigan's recount (due Wednesday),” she added.

In Pennsylvania, which has 20 Electoral College votes, Mr Trump won by roughly 68,000 votes, and in Wisconsin, which has ten such votes, his margin was even smaller: just 27,000. Michigan, which carries 14 votes, is still too close to call, with the difference between the two candidates amounting to fewer than 12,000.

Mr Trump collected 290 Electoral College votes compared to 232 for Ms Clinton. For her to overturn the results, she would need to secure the votes of all three disputed states.

A group including University of Michigan computer science professor Alex Halderman and voting rights activist John Bonifaz contacted Ms Clinton’s campaign after seeing her tallies fell seven per cent short of expectations in counties that used electronic voting machines. Ms Clinton has yet to comment on the claims, or say if she supports a recount.</s>An election recount will take place soon in Wisconsin, after former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed a petition Friday with the state’s Elections Commission, the first of three states where she has promised to contest the election result.

The move from Stein, who raised millions since her Wednesday announcement that she would seek recounts of Donald Trump’s apparent election victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, came just 90 minutes before Wisconsin’s 5 p.m. Friday deadline to file a petition. Now it will keep some hope alive for many Hillary Clinton supporters for another few weeks while Wisconsin recounts ballots before a Dec. 13 deadline.

Trump scored upset victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and seems on the path to declare a victory in Michigan as well, although the result of the election in that state will not be certified officially until Monday. Had Clinton won those three states, previously seen as part of the Democrats’ “firewall,” she would have secured enough votes in the Electoral College to win the election.

Stein announced her intention to file the petition following reports that a group of data experts and election lawyers were urging Clinton to demand a recount in those three states, on suspicion that a cyberattack could have manipulated the results of the election in those states. While the group had no specific proof of hacking, they noted irregularities suggesting Clinton routinely did more poorly in Wisconsin counties that used voting machines, as opposed to those that relied on paper ballots.

Trump secured a total of 1,404,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to the commission; Clinton had 1,381,823. Stein secured 31,006 votes.

To be on the safe side, the group of experts urged a recount – but it was Stein’s campaign that ended up demanding one, soliciting at first $2.5 million and later up to $7 million to fund the recounts. As of Friday evening, Stein’s campaign reported taking in over $5.25 million in recount-related donations – the most by a third-party candidate in history.

Wisconsin has the first deadline of the three states in question. If Stein’s campaign wishes to file recount petitions in the other states as promised, she must do so by Monday to meet Pennsylvania’s deadline, and Wednesday to meet Michigan’s deadline.

In the end, Stein was not the only presidential candidate to demand a recount. Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, the Reform Party nominee who got 1,514 Wisconsin votes, also filed a recount petition, according to the state’s Elections Commission.

In a statement, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas guessed that the cost and complexity of the recount would be in excess of the state’s last recount in 2011, which carried a price tag of more than $520,000. In that recount over a state Supreme Court seat, the commission had to recount 1.5 million votes – about half the 2.975 million ballot votes that were cast during the 2016 presidential election.

Stein put a note on her Facebook page on Friday, asking supporters “to consider volunteering to help in the recount process.”

The county boards of canvassers will conduct the recount, according to the commission’s statement, and will have the authority “to decide which ballots should and should not be counted,” Haas said.

If the candidates disagree with the results of the Wisconsin recount, they will have five business days to contest the outcome in court.</s>MILWAUKEE - Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on Thursday reached her goal to raise $2.5 million to request a recount in Wisconsin, one of three states where she plans to seek an audit of U.S. presidential election results, her campaign said.

Stein will ask Wisconsin to verify vote totals tallied by electronic machines that her campaign called "highly vulnerable to hacking and malicious reprogramming" in a statement on its website.

She is also trying to raise an additional $2 million to request recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, where deadlines are next week to file the required paperwork.

Election experts have identified Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as states where "statistical anomalies" occurred, according to the Stein campaign.

"We deserve elections we can trust," the campaign said.

Republican Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton by slight margins in the three battleground states on his way to an upset in the presidential election on Nov. 8. Leading up to the election, many polls had Clinton defeating Trump.

Although Clinton won the popular vote, Trump is well ahead in Electoral College votes, the determining tally in winning the presidency in the United States. Stein won a little more than 1 percent of the popular vote.

"Our effort to recount votes in those states is not intended to help Hillary Clinton," the Stein campaign said.

Election experts are calling for Clinton to seek a manual review of paper ballots and voting equipment in the three states, University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman wrote in an essay.

Such an examination would "help allay doubt and give voters justified confidence that the results are accurate," Halderman wrote on Medium.com, a site where users can self-publish articles and essays.

The most likely explanation for the polls wrongly predicting a Clinton win was that they were "systematically wrong" rather than that the election being hacked, he wrote. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Reform Party nominee Rocky de la Fuente from California and Green Party candidate Jill Stein file recount petitions in the state of Wisconsin.