Will there be a recount for the 2024 election?

The 2024 election, after looming for months, is officially over. This broken, bitter nation has once again elected Donald Trump into the most powerful position in the nation, and for many, it feels like the beginning of the end.

It’s not the first time voters have felt this way, of course, nor will it be the last, but it feels particularly disparaging to see such a distinctly unelectable man secure a victory. There is no such thing as a perfect candidate, and thus Kamala Harris was not perfect, but she was qualified. She has experience, poise, intelligence, and heart, and she still lost. Instead, we elected a convicted felon who tried to destroy our democracy for his own pride, and it feels like the American dream died in the wee hours of Nov. 6, as the former president pulled ahead.

Now Americans face a stark future. We’re headed into another four years of President Trump, a man who prompted “World War 3” to trend every few months, who got in petty squabbles with world leaders, who imposed tariffs, threatened longtime alliances, and allowed millions of Americans to die under his watch. It’s a terrifying thought, and most people are not quite ready to accept it as a reality. It seems like a sick joke to think that Harris lost this election, and at least some people are convinced that it’s not real. They’re hanging their hopes on a potential recount, which could — in narrowly won swing states — change the course of Trump’s victory.

Will there be an election recount?

Recounts following an election are rare, but certainly not unheard of. The Trump camp requested several recounts in 2020, after he lost key states that would have secured him a victory, and in 2016 Hillary Clinton’s campaign likewise requested recounts in several key states.

The same is happening this year, but don’t expect it to change the results of the election. We can always hold out hope, but it seems, against all odds, that Trump really has this thing. At least one recount did occur as votes were still being counted, forcing Milwaukee to re-tabulate around 34,000 ballots. A “snafu” with the city’s voting machines led to the need for a recount, but things were already underway on Nov. 5.

Chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Ann Jacobs addressed the voting machine issues in a series of posts to X, where she explained that “the tabulator machines have doors that are supposed to be locked and sealed before tabulation,” but that did not initially occur. That required a recount, which kicked off on Nov. 5 and did not ultimately change the state’s results.

Wisconsin as a whole may see further recounts, with news that the state’s Senate race is close enough to warrant one. If so, it could see Democratic victor Tammy Baldwin, who won a third term on Nov. 5, once again challenged for her seat. She reportedly beat out her opponent, Republican Eric Hovde, by a 0.9% margin, which is within the 1% allowance that grants Hovde the ability to request a recount.