April 8, 2011- Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB), announced today he is dispatching staff to inspect and review the election night procedures in Waukesha County, where the outcome of the Supreme Court race is likely to be determined.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced Thursday that she discovered more than 14,000 votes from the City of Brookfield had not been counted in her original tally of Tuesday’s election.
The votes gave Justice David Prosser the lead over challenger Joanne Kloppenberg in the closely contested race , as other counties in Wisconsin continued to canvass their vote totals today.
Nickolaus, who had been previously criticized by a Waukesha County audit that found she stored key electoral documents, including vote totals, on her personal computer, said the Brookfield votes were not counted because of “human error.”
Kennedy issued the following statement today:
“Our election system is administered by people, and some problems are bound to occur. However, our post-election canvass system is designed to identify any errors and correct them. While unofficial results reported by some counties on Election Night have proven to be incorrect, the process of election officials canvassing and certifying those results is working.
“Because of the attention on vote totals from Brookfield, I am dispatching G.A.B. staff to Waukesha County today to review the business processes and verify the reported results in the election for Supreme Court justice. I have been in close contact with Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus since her news conference on Thursday, and have directed her to make the official returns from the polling places available for public inspection. These documents are public records. I believe she is now taking steps to ensure transparency and public confidence in the official results.
“The G.A.B. will issue a report on the results of its review as soon as possible, and before certifying the statewide election results.