Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker (R-Koch Brothers) isn’t going quietly after his defeat last night. And soon, he’ll realize that he’s kicked his own ass with the recount legislation that was hastily rammed through the Legislature for his signature. The Karma Truck might be late, but it’s delivering the goods.
Walker campaign adviser Brian Reisinger said Walker would wait until the official canvass and the tallying of military ballots before deciding his next steps.
Instead of just moving along, he’s going to play Sore Loser. He won’t concede and plans on waiting for the vote certification canvass. Even then, he’ll play hardball. Right now he’s eyeing about 2,000 “reconstructed” ballots from the absentee pool (not enough to even begin to dent the margin of his loss).
So, what are reconstructed ballots? The Milwaukee Election Commission clarified:
"The process for reconstructing a ballot is entirely transparent, dictated by state law and was followed by the City of Milwaukee," the commission said in a statement.
The statement added that every election has absentee ballots that have to be reconstructed due to voter error or damage to the ballot. That could include voter errors such as marking X’s on ballots or using a pencil to mark the ballot.
"Ballots were also damaged during the sealing of the envelope at in-person absentee voting," the commission said. "If adhesive from the envelope transferred onto the ballot, the ballot was reconstructed rather than risk any compromise to the tabulators' ability to read all votes on the ballot."
The ballots were “reconstructed” in full public view by 2 election workers and observers from all political parties. Ballots that were marked with Xs rather than filled in circles were recreated with filled in circles to allow ballot scanning machinery to read them.
Did I mention that the 2000 reconstructed ballots don’t come close to the over 30,000 vote margin? Or that military ballots (also something Walker is “waiting for”) won’t close that gap.
And then there’s this:
DON’T LOOK TO A RECOUNT TO SAVE YOUR SORRY BEHIND
Walker lost by over 30,000 votes or 1.1%. If he wants a recount, he’s going to run into a brand new shiny law that he, himself, promoted and was all too happy to sign.
Walker and the Republicans were angry about Jill Stein asking for, and paying for, a recount in order to establish just how Donald Trump won Wisconsin. The changed the law to make it much, much harder to ask for a recount. (Don’t you just love karma?)
A candidate can request a recount only if they lost by 1 percentage point or less in an election with at least 4,000 votes total.
Bwahahahaha! Walker lost by 1.1%.
Therefore, the law he insisted on is coming back to bite him.
The Karma Truck might be late, but it has delivered another delicious and savory bit of schadenfreuden to this terrible man who has wreaked so much havoc.
BONUS: WHAT WILL WALKER DO?
This will be the first time Walker has not had a government job since 1993 when he was elected to the State Assembly. He’s always had steady paychecks and enormous benefits on the taxpayer dime.
He sold his house 2 years ago when he though his next residence would be the White House (his neighbors hated him so they were glad to see him go), so when he leaves the Governors’ Mansion, he’ll have to find a place to live. Maybe the Koch Brothers can let him couch surf at their place?
Now he’ll have to get a “real” job. Just what line of work do you think he’ll end up in?
For now, I think I’ll just have another cup of schadenfreuden.
MAJOR UPDATE (h/t to Magnifico and First Amendment for the catch):
While I was writing this, the Associate Press has announced (by tweet) that Scott Walker has conceded. Here’s the statement that Walker issued.
And here’s the first article:
Gov. Scott Walker conceded to Democrat Tony Evers on Wednesday, a day after he narrowly lost his bid for a third term to the state schools superintendent.
"After inquiring further about the additional ballots in Milwaukee, Friends of Scott Walker determined that any change in the result would not be significant enough to determine the outcome of the election, despite its close margin and questions about how the city of Milwaukee executed its election night operations," said a statement from Walker's campaign.
He also pledged cooperation of his staff during the transition.
I am just over the moon with joy. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and when I heard about those 44,000 still uncounted absentee ballots in Milwaukee, I followed the local news station that had a reporter on site who followed that ballot count from the City of Milwaukee to the Milwaukee County Clerks office to be added to the tally.
When she asked for, and received the official count — that Walker got 7000 of those votes and Evers got 38,000 of them I had to diary. There were simply not enough ballots in the rest of the state — even if Walker got every single one of them — to overcome that deficit. Even before the AP called the race, I did.
We will have a new Governor to start the long, laborious process of restoring all the damage that has been done to the state. He’ll have to work with a fully Republican State Legislature, but has one of the strongest line-item veto laws on his side.
He plans first to expand Medicaid and later to create a Medicaid public option where people not eligible for Medicaid can buy in. I’m sure he envisions ridding the public of all those draconian laws that humiliate people applying for social welfare, unemployment compensation, and food stamps.
It will take decades to undo the damage. To restore union rights, restore environmental protection laws, and end the corruption that has become a feature of the Walker era. He’ll be able to stop or veto the severe gerrymandering that has handed this state to Republicans on a silver platter so we can have true representation.
I’ve lived for this day — in spite of cancer, disability, and my damaged heart. I can now die in peace knowing that we’re on a better track.