New Details on Wisconsin Supreme Court 'Recount,' Waukesha County Clerk Investigation

[babsbunny]

Kloppenburg filing for special investigator alleges Prosser met privately with Walker on night after election, Nickolaus may have committed felonies

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8486

Both camps agree to hand counts in parts of 31 counties...

On Wednesday, Wisconsin's Asst. Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg announced that she will be exercising her right to file for a statewide "recount" following the April 5th election for state Supreme Court against the incumbent Justice David Prosser. She also said that she intended to ask for a special investigator to be named to look into a number of still-unanswered questions about election results that were misreported by Waukesha County's Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, a former employee of Prosser's when both served in the state's Assembly Republican Caucus.

Kloppenburg's complaints have now been filed, and The BRAD BLOG has been reviewing both them, and several additional points of note since yesterday's dramatic presser, in advance of the count which is scheduled to begin next Wednesday, April 27, according to the WI Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.), the state's top election agency.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Recounts in parts of the county?

I thought that the Florida mess in 2000 claimed that Gore erred by not asking for a recount in ALL counties. Why are they proceeding differently or is this another political ploy?

[OnTheOtherHand]

10. statewide recount, with hand counts where Optech Eagles are used

Under WI law, a recount of op-scan ballots ordinarily would use the scanners, not hand counts. However, the Government Accountability Board (GAB) determined that in the case of the Optech Eagles, that would require reusing the proprietary memory cards -- contradicting a legal requirement to preserve that evidence during the recount. So the GAB, after negotiating with the two campaigns, obtained a court order to do hand counts for that equipment instead.

A bunch of places in Wisconsin did hand counts in the first place. Others used scanners other than the Eagle. Also, to meet accessibility requirements, some places additionally deploy DREs with voter-verifiable paper trails; others use special ballot marking devices.

[tomp]

11. seems to me the Nikolaus affair points to hand recounts of all votes.

i sdon't trust any computerized voting machine, but that's not exactly the point.

nikolaus' infraction concerned already tallied votes, which are all equally susceptible to manipulation.

[OnTheOtherHand]

14. Waukesha is almost exclusively Eagles

In fact, I'm not really sure it isn't exclusively Eagles (plus the accessibility equipment).

That said, Waukesha seems pretty overrated as a concern. We know that the vote counts Nickolaus added were the same vote counts already announced for city of Brookfield. Hypothetically, she could have been adding those votes throughout the rest of the county, but the municipalities all run their own elections and print their own tapes, so how would she get away with it? I haven't heard a good answer to that.

[tomp]

15. i'm not saying she was the one who did all the vote rigging.

i'm saying any vote that passes through a computer is susceptible to rigging.

[OnTheOtherHand]

16. that would be true if there were no "Nickolaus affair" at all

You're absolutely right: some of the scanner counts could be rigged from the get-go. That would generally make more sense than trying to steal votes after the original results by municipality were announced -- although it might not be easy to do in lots of places, given how decentralized Wisconsin election administration is.

I just wish people would think and talk more in terms of cause and effect, instead of just saying that we can't trust the computers, true as that is.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Thanks.

[Scuba]

2. One thing here sticks out like the proverbial smoking gun....

...if she knew about the omission of Brookfield on Wednesday morning, as she claims, why didn't she mention it Wednesday noon at the Board of Canvassers meeting, or to the GAB, or anyone else, prior to the Thursday 5:30 p.m. press conference?


Well, she did tell someone. It was reported by the conservative media BEFORE THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

[iwishiwas]

8. yes, And WHY did Brookfield need to transmit the counts TWICE??--you

would think that since they did this 2x--she would certainly remember to add Brookfield to the totals.

[annabanana]

13. +100 (needs spreading)

Is there a place I can link for my facebook & twitter?

[yourout]

3. Would state law prevent video taping or imaging of every ballot before it ...

is feed into the op-scans?

And if so......why?

[Scuba]

4. Don't know. The real key is to have observers doing hand counts and comparing...

...with the machine counts. If there are differences, report them.

[Ellipsis]

6. That will be a given.

[Ellipsis]

5. Video taping IS allowed... as long as it's not a distraction to the process.

So as to the actually videotaping of the ballots maybe... but if people wanted to see or verify the actually process, I would think theuy would be a mndable.

Also... she can ask for a full hand recount after this recount is finished. If there is any disparity I'm sure she will.

[Ellipsis]

7. Best Compendium to date , highly recommend for anyone who wants to get up to speed...

...on what's happening in Wisconsin.

I'm surprised the rascal didn't post it here himself.

[Lefta Dissenter]

9. hand counting

for the precincts where certain types of machines have been used - those that don't have enough available memory in the prom packs to be able to recount without first erasing what is there. Otherwise, the prom packs would have to be wiped clean before a recount of those precincts.

For the machine recounts, observers are supposed to be able to view each ballot as it is put into the machine. So, in effect, it can be a hand count.

By the way, from what I understand, none of this is set in stone yet, so stay tuned.

If you can volunteer, DO!!! If you can donate money, even a few bucks, DO! The republican troops are supposed to arrive in Wisconsin tomorrow. They have unlimited funds to hire and put up attorneys, activists, whomever they want. We have to draw the line with this election!!!

http://www.kloppenburgforjustice.com/