Wisconsin's election board has agreed to conduct a recount of votes cast in the US presidential race following Donald Trump's narrow victory in the state.
It follows a request from Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is also seeking similar reviews in two other states where Trump scraped a win .
The recount process, including an examination by hand of the nearly three million ballots tabulated in Wisconsin, is expected to begin late next week.
The state faces a federal deadline of December 13 to complete the recount, which may require canvassers in Wisconsin's 72 counties to work evenings and weekends to finish the job in time.
The recount fee has yet to be determined but, in a Facebook message, Stein said the sum was expected to run to about $1.1 million.
She said she has raised at least $5 million from donors since launching her drive on Wednesday for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The three battleground states are where Republican Trump edged out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by relatively thin margins.
Her effort may have given a ray of hope to dispirited Clinton supporters, but the chance of overturning the overall result of the November 8 election is considered very slim, even if all three states go along with the recount.
The Green Party candidate, who garnered little more than 1 percent of the nationwide popular vote herself, said that she was seeking to verify the integrity of the US voting system, not to undo Trump's victory.
While there was no evidence of tampering or voting errors in the election, only a thorough review of results from the three states at issue will reassure Americans, Stein said.
"This was a hack-riddled election," she told CNN, pointing to various cyber-attacks on political organisations and individual email accounts before Election Day and media reports citing concerns raised by computer security specialists.
Experts urged extra scrutiny of the three states, Stein said, because their voting systems were seen as vulnerable.
They also cited "unexplained high numbers of undervotes," the close finish between the two nominees and "discrepancies between pre-election polling and the official result," she said.
According to Stein, the Wisconsin commission confirmed receipt of her recount petition at 3.45pm local time, just over an hour before the deadline for filing.
The filing deadline is Monday in Pennsylvania and Wednesday in Michigan.
The Wisconsin board said Stein was joined in her petition by another third-party candidate, Rocky Roque De La Fuente.
Although Trump won narrowly in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the margins make it highly unlikely any recounts would end up giving Clinton a win in all three states, which would be needed for the overall election result to change.
Trump beat Clinton in Pennsylvania by 70,010 votes, in Michigan by 10,704 votes and in Wisconsin by 27,257 votes.
The presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, based on a tally of wins from the state-by-state contests, rather than by the popular national vote.
The Electoral College results are expected to be finalised on December 19.
Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win, although Clinton will have won the national popular vote by more than two million ballots once final tallies are in.
A representative for Trump's transition team had no comment on Stein's effort, and Clinton has not commented on Stein's effort.
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