What Would A Series Of Recounts Look Like?

While it looks likely that Joe Biden will be declared the winner of the presidential election in the coming hours by most news network decision desks, there remains the prospect that Donald Trump seeks recounts in states that he is on course to lose by narrow margins. Below we outline the process for calling and holding recounts in these states.

• Arizona: An automatic recount is triggered if the margin between candidates is less than or equal to 0.1% of the votes cast. At present Biden leads by 1.54% of the vote. Neither candidates nor voters can request a recount, but voters can contest the result in court if they suspect: misconduct, illegal votes were cast, or if counting errors are believed to have delivered victory to the wrong candidate.
• Georgia: Candidates can request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast. At present Biden leads by 0.02% of the vote. The recount request must come within 2 days of the vote certification. The deadline for certification is Nov 17.
• Nevada: No automatic recount trigger. Losing candidate or voters can request a recount. Request must be filed within 3 days of the certification of results, which is set to happen on Nov 16. Biden leads by 11k votes at present.
• Pennsylvania: Automatic recount triggered if margin is less than 0.5% of total votes cast. Margin at present is 0.1% in Biden's favour. If automatic recount isn't triggered, voters in individual districts can request a recount if they sign affidavits saying there were errors in the count. Recount must take place with different tabulators than those used in first count, or ballots must be counted by hand. Recount must start by Nov 18 and finish by Nov 24.
• Wisconsin: No automatic recount. Losing candidate can request recount if margin is less than 1% (at present Biden leads by 0.62%). Request must be within 3 working days of certification (due to be finalised by Dec 1).