2016 Postmortem

Nineteen counties in Wisconsin refused hand recounts and do machine recounts. That ought to be the same result under most conditions and is not a meaningful recount because it doesn't adjust for mistakes possible in the original method. There is also the amount of time that goes by. Last presidential recount was Ohio 2004 and three election officials were convicted of rigging it to match the original count. (Huge nonpartisan motive: avoiding embarrassment and avoiding being "the next Florida 2000.&quot That was actually a Democratic county of Cuyahoga rigging it to be the same, which helped Bush.

But aside from these non-ballot extraneous factors, anyone who says the recount could never change anything is either high or much worse. They simply can not know what the paper ballots say. Nobody knows until a recount by hand is done. And unlike hand counting errors that are rare and I very small portions, a machine can make huge errors and never "know" the difference. As long as the error doesn't reach the level of absurdity, election officials will just sign off on.it as the certified result.