A Washington election advocacy organization wants the federal Justice Department to investigate the vote in a high-profile Wisconsin state election after more than 7,000 votes were suddenly found that assures the re-election of the Republican incumbent.
The county clerk of heavily Republican Waukesha County on Thursday announced a find of 7,582 additional votes for incumbent state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, after Democratic challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg had taken a small lead in the race, according to totals compiled by the Associated Press.
The clerk, Kathy Nickolaus, attributed the surge of votes for Prosser to errors in her office. The Washington group ProtectOurElections.org, however, is calling on federal investigators to probe the matter.
Specifically, the organization wants an immediate Justice Department investigation and impoundment of all voting machines, computer equipment, ballots, memory cards and other evidence in order to verify a fair vote count in Waukesha County. The investigation must include a review of all communications including emails and telephone records between Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, others in the Waukesha clerk’s office, and all outside persons and interested parties to the election dispute, the organization says in a statement.
The Wisconsin election has drawn national attention because the state’s governor, Republican Scott Walker, pushed through legislation stripping state workers of bargaining rights — over the objections of Badger State Democrats and tens of thousands of protesters who held sustained rallies against the measure.
Opponents of Walker and his anti-union initiative strongly backed Kloppenberg’s challenge, in which state supreme court justices must be re-elected by Wisconsin voters.
Opponents also are initiating recall elections against eight state GOP senators who backed the Walker bill.
A state judge has suspended implementation of the anti-union law, and its ultimate fate could well be decided by Wisconsin’s high court.
“Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus is a partisan activist who has a long history of election irregularities and questionable conduct,” says Protect Our Elections spokesman and attorney Kevin Zeese. “She was given immunity from prosecution in a 2002 criminal investigation into illegal activity by members of the Republican Assembly caucus where she worked as a data analyst and computer specialist. Last year, it was discovered that she unplugged election results from the State system and instead stored them only on her personal computer, and then resisted an audit which found such conduct in violation of accepted practices.
“She was also taken to task for keeping election results secret from others, refusing to follow security protocols, and for letting her ‘Republican activism’ interfere with her job,” Zeese adds. “And now, it appears that she intentionally held back these new vote totals from other officials and observers but leaked the data to conservative bloggers to break the story. Finally, it is being reported that she previously worked with and was hired by Judge Prosser. Based on these shocking developments and to ensure the fairness of the election results, the Department of Justice must immediately step in and conduct at a full, impartial, and independent investigation into this matter
