Republican legislators are refusing to pay two Wisconsin counties the $3 million they're owed for conducting election recounts

• A committee that's part of the Republican-led state legislature in Wisconsin is refusing to pay two Wisconsin counties the $3 million they're owed for conducting election vote recounts, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• It is unclear why these unnamed Republicans are withholding the money.
• Residents in Dane and Milwaukee counties overwhelmingly voted for President-elect Joe Biden.

Two Wisconsin counties are being denied the money they're owed for conducting election vote recounts, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The Trump 2020 campaign paid a total of $3 million to Dane and Milwaukee counties after demanding recounts there. President Donald Trump initially lost to Joe Biden by 0.6 percentage points. When the recount was finalized, Biden's margin of victory had increased.

Candidates requesting officials to recount votes are responsible for the cost, according to Ballotpedia, unless the recount alters the result in favor of another candidate. In that case, the state will cover the recount cost.

The Trump campaign already paid the $3 million recount fee, but the state's legislature's budget committee, which has a Republican majority, is withholding it. Republican legislators have not specified why.

A letter from the state's Joint Finance Committee said one of its 16 members opposed paying the two counties the $3 million they're owed. The member was not named in the letter.

Dane County Board Chair Analiese Eicher tweeted out the letter, sent to her from Republican committee leaders Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. Mark Born.

"Just learned that the republicans are objecting to reimbursing Dane County for Donald Trump's recount," Eicher said. "Expenses were incurred. We did our job. Time to pay the bill. We're not a contractor Trump and his allies in the WIGOP can stiff."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Wisconsin is just one of the states where Trump filed dozens of lawsuits alleging widespread voter fraud. He's won none so far. Recount efforts across Wisconsin and other states have not altered the results of the 2020 election. Biden is expected to begin his presidency on January 20, the day he will be inaugurated into office.