GOPs wanna recount Madison and Milwaukee? I wanna recount Sheboygan, Adams and Mauston!

Look, I know that Trump's request to recount Milwaukee County's and Dane County's votes is nothing more than a lame attempt to race-bait and provide fodder for hours of AM Talk Radio and Faux News cable stations. Heck, right-wing operatives in Wisconsin were discovered admitting this nearly 10 years ago during the Kloppenberg-Prosser Supreme Court election.

But it did get me to thinking about turnout totals, and if there was anywhere that had odd numbers. I used the unofficial totals that were put together by the Wisconsin Elections Commission right after the election (yes, I know the official canvass has changed this a bit, but I don't have an easy place to stack that up), then compared that to 2016's total votes.

Using that metric, here are the counties with the largest % increase in votes compared to 2016.

Menominee Co +21.18%
Sheboygan Co +19.35%
Juneau Co +16.77%
Adams Co +16.66%
Kenosha Co +16.23%
Burnett Co +16.06%
Calumet Co +16.03%
Polk County +15.74%

A lot of rural counties along with Sheboygan and Kenosha. The Menominee increase is especially interesting, because it's the bluest county in Wisconsin (but interestingly, NOT one Trump asked to recount), and also seems to be reflective of a strong pro-Dem turnout in the Native American community nationwide that was credited as a big reason behind Biden's win in Arizona.

But I don't see Milwaukee or Dane County on that list. Oh wait, here's a list Milwaukee is on.

Lowest % increase in votes vs 2016, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Co +4.05%
Grant County +4.14%
Portage Co. +5.22%
Eau Claire Co. +5.83%
La Crosse Co. +6.48%
Dunn County +6.50%
Winnebago Co. +7.92%

Also notice that the other 6 counties on that list are all homes to UW campuses (as is Milwaukee, for that matter). That has to be COVID-related, as those campuses likely have fewer students taking classes on-site and living in those college towns.

Now, let's look again at how the counties in Wisconsin shifted in who they chose for president in 2020 vs 2016.

Wisconsin UNOFFFICIAL votes.

The map of the vote margin by county, and of the shift in margin from 2016 to 2020.

A familiar map of red and blue counties. Only Sauk and Door flipped, R->D

Margin change notable that WOW and BOW (Fox Valley) both getting smaller Rep margins

1/n pic.twitter.com/osu47aczO1

— Charles Franklin (@PollsAndVotes) November 9, 2020

Now look again on the list of counties with the highest increase in turnout - 6 of those 8 counties turned redder in 2020, despite the fact that the state turned about 1.4% bluer. I find that...interesting. But maybe population changes explain some of this. I also compared the turnout differences to recently released Census figures on population for counties for 2019. Logically, places with larger increases in population should have larger increases in turnout.

So I compared the population totals of 2019 to those of 2016, and then subtracted the vote % increase from the population % increase. I'll show you the top counties under that standard, color them red and blue to show which way the vote shifted vs 2016, then show how that compares to the "questionable" turnout in Dane and Milwaukee Counties.

Sounds like we should look at a few places, you know, just to be sure. If TrumpWorld wants to look at the 1,585 votes in Menominee County, feel free (they'll probably appreciate the job opportunities and casino stays). In response, I think Dems should look at the following counties.

Sheboygan (largest change in red-shift county)
Adams + Juneau (right next to each other)
Kenosha (because it got redder after James Blake? Yeah.)
Burnett + Polk (14.45%), both are right next to each other
Richland (+13.51%), because otherwise Richland County's streak of picking every presidential winner since 1980 is over.

I mean after all, if we want to find out if the numbers are legitimate, shouldn't we be looking at the ones that had suspiciously large jumps in turnout. And especially if they voted more for Trump in an election when the state as a whole turned away from him?

It makes a lot more sense than looking at Dane or (especially) Milwaukee Counties, which had smaller increases in turnout compared to many rural counties. Y'know, unless this recount and the GOP's posing has nothing to do with trying to ensure "integrity", and is nothing more than cheap race-baiting, resentment politics, and coming up with excuses as to why TRUMP GOT BEAT.

PS- Wait, maybe it was those Dominion voting machines that are part of RW conspiracy land these days. Let's see what the Dane County clerk has to say.

So Dane and Milwaukee use ES&S voting equipment. Door, Fond du Lac, Walworth, Vilas, Ozaukee, Winnebago, and Racine use Dominion. No recount request for any of those counties... So that is obviously a fake issue among many others.

— Scott McDonell (@samcdonell) November 18, 2020