Wisconsin's recount of the April 5th Supreme Court election is wrapping up. The end is in sight. Waukesha County, home of the 14,000 vote miracle that put incumbent David Prosser more than 7,000 votes ahead, is the only county not finished. They say they will be done by May 23rd.
Ouch. Looks like the sharks are circling around Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.
The costs associated with the recount are coming in lower than expected. From The Chippewa Herald:
The majority of the county officials contacted Friday said their costs were equal to or less than expected, due to both underestimating the number of volunteers they would have to conduct the recount and overestimating the time needed for the actual recounting process.
Waukesha's canvassers took today (Sunday) off, so rather than repeat the numbers from yesterday's diaries, here are a few stories from the recount. Some are weird, some are funny, so take a break from all the grim news about open ballot bags and missing signatures and enjoy reading about some Wisconsin Recount oddities documented over the past 3 weeks.
First, let me post a happy photo I took at Saturday's "We Are Wisconsin" Rally in Madison. About 15,000 Wisconsinites from all parts of the state showed up to let Scott Walker know that we know about all the nasties he's loading into his new budget. Here is one participant who can acknowledge the presence of evil while still keeping a smile on her face:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prosser spies in Madison recount? From the official minutes of the Dane County recount:
At 2:05 p.m., we were rotating workers between poll book reconciliation and ballot counting. Two Tabulators had been working on poll book reconciliation since 8 a.m. and needed to be given a new task. The Madison City Clerk asked for volunteers from the ballot counting table to move to poll book reconciliation. Nobody volunteered.
The Madison City Clerk next asked which municipality each Tabulator was from, to determine which Tabulators had a while to wait before their municipality’s ballots would be counted. Two of the individuals seated at the ballot table did not answer until the third time the Clerk asked this question. They then responded that they were from Madison. She asked if they were from the Town of Madison, and they responded that they were from the City of Madison. The Clerk did not recognize these individuals as City of Madison Chief Inspectors, and questioned them further. She determined that they were not City of Madison Inspectors, and had not been scheduled to work at this recount. These individuals said they were “with Prosser,” at which time the Madison City Clerk summoned the County Clerk.
The clerk summoned representatives from each campaign who questioned the two individuals, a married couple. It turns out they were confused about the process for volunteering as tabulators and just showed up. No harm, no foul, but I loved this exchange:
MR. SWEENEY...I'd like to ask you to give your name and address for the record.
MR. SMITH: Jack Smith. My address is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MR. SWEENEY: And you came here with your wife. What's your wife's name?
MR. SMITH: Sharon.
MR. SWEENEY: And she lives with you, I take it?
MR. SMITH: I hope so.
Delivered in pure Wisconsin deadpan, I'm certain. Way to go for the laugh line, Mr. Smith! Even if you were a Prosser spy, I love the quirky sense of humor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next, from the Barron County minutes:
Deb Sirek, substitute Democratic Canvass Board representative hadn't thought about it earlier but asked if it was a problem that she didn't live in Barron County. In checking with GAB [Wisconsin's elections board], it was found that the representative must be a resident of the county.
At that point, they appointed the county clerk's cat to be the Democratic representative on the Board of Canvassers.
No, not really. But seriously, how hard was it for the GAB not to respond to the query from Barron County with a simple "Duh!"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A friend sent me this link about an observer who has been behaving rather strangely at the Waukesha recount and has been warned about it.
Said Kratsch, "This wasn't that big a deal. I made a series of mistakes. Plus I'm just a little too hyper and talkative. I know now a recount is a very, very serious atmosphere. I didn't really do anything except try to talk to people."
He sounds similar to the man who sat next to me in the Wisconsin Assembly gallery on the day they debated the union-busting bill. People in the gallery are told to be silent or they will be asked to leave, but the guy just wouldn't stop asking me questions and commenting about the proceedings. At one point he leaned over to me and said "If I start making animal noises, just ignore me."
I leaned forward and didn't look at him or respond to him in any way after that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Door County recount minutes regarding the votes from the town of Forestville:
Original Memory Cards opened and TSX ballots recreated as paper was in backwards on Election Day.
OK. Moving on...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Florence County...
A copy of ballots printed from the DRE flashcard was used to tally the votes from the DRE as the election inspectors had put the paper in backwards when changed later in the day and all of the ballots would not have been on the Real Time Audit Log printed on Election Day.
Oh, those wacky elections officials! Putting the paper in backwards in the voting machines. LOL!!! The ballots weren't on the Real Time Audit Log? OMG that is so hilarious!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, this gem from Marathon County...
Joyce Christian stated that during the April 5, 2011 election, a poll worker went into the Town of Maine townhall kitchen to retrieve more ballots to be used. On accident, the poll worker brought back ballots from the February 15. 2011 primary election.
See? That's why you should always write an expiration date on the bag before you put your ballots in the refrigerator.
Turns out that quite a fuss was made about the kitchen ballots...
Five ballots were given out. Three ballots were used, but before they were put into the M-100, the error was discovered and their ballots were remade. The February 2011 used primary ballots were then torn up and thrown away.
The February 15, 2011 ballot became exhibit 16-D. No note was made as to this on the incident log. Tammi Walters is unsure what happened to the other two ballots. Betty Hoenisch contact Joyce Zernicke who remade the ballots and she is unsure if she looked at the names of the candidates or if she just took the oval placement and transferred the vote that way.
The Canvass Board discussed letting the hand count results stand as they cannot be sure how the three electors voted on the ballots that were remade. The republicans made an objection. The Canvass Board contact the GAB and spoke with Mike Haas. The Canvass Board explained what had happened and that they needed clairification . Mike asked if it would be okay if Ross Hein called us back. About five minutes later, Mike and Ross called us back. On speaker phone, Ross said we needed a statement from the election inspector who remade the ballot. Ross said that it is fine for the Canvass Board to use the machine count from today, April 28, 2011. The Republicans again made an objection.
Betty Hoenisch offered to go to the Town of Maine townhall and try to see if the ballots were still in the recycling. The Democrats objected as to the chain of custody of the ballots at this point. The Canvass Board again agreed to let the M-100 results from today stand. Betty Hoenisch did return to the Town of Maine townhall to look for the torn up ballots, but called back at 4:30 p.m. to say that she did not find them.
Good night, everyone! Please tip your waitress!