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US election: Trump to ask for recount in Wisconsin, says campaign manager

Washington - 'There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties'

President Donald Trump’s campaign on Wednesday said it was demanding a recount in Wisconsin, a crucial state where early returns show Democrat Joe Biden with a slender lead.

“There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. “The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”

Wisconsin is one of a handful of states where the fate of the US election now hangs in the balance.

With 94 per cent of votes counted in the state, Biden led Trump by about 20,000 votes.

Although that was just a sliver of the more than 3.2 million votes cast altogether, Trump may have a hard time recovering that many through a typical recount.

A recount in Wisconsin during the 2016 presidential election, in which Trump took the state as part of his win against Democrat Hillary Clinton, found only 131 extra votes for Trump.

“20,000 is a high hurdle,” former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a Republican, tweeted.

With Trump and Biden neck and neck across the rest of the country, the deciding states in their contest have come down to Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.