Thread by @MollyBeck

Trump campaign says it will seek a recount in Wisconsin.

Here's the deal on recounts in WI: If the race stays within 1 percentage point, the losing candidate can force a recount. If the margin is larger than that, there's no chance for one.

Before any decision could be made, official results need to be finalized over the coming weeks

A recount in 2016 resulted in few changes to the final tally in Wisconsin. That year, Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes out of about 3 million cast.

Under the recount rules at the time, Green Party candidate Jill Stein was able to make the recount happen, even though she had received only about 31,000 votes, a tiny sliver of the vote total.

Stein's campaign had to pay about $3.5 million for that recount.

In response to the 2016 recount, Republicans who controlled the state at the time changed the law to tighten the recount rules.

That put in place the requirement that a losing candidate can demand a recount only when the margin is 1 point or less.

If the small margin holds, the losing candidate can demand a recount — either of the whole state or of specific counties — once counties complete their canvasses.

The loser has to make the demand within three days of the last county sending its official results to the state.

If the official results show the race being decided by a quarter of a percentage point or less, the state will pay for the recount.

If the margin is between a quarter of a percentage point and a point, the candidate will have to pay for it.