Thu Apr 07, 2011 at 09:11 PM EDT
I don't know if fraud was committed in Waukesha County in connection with the April 5th, 2011 election for Wisconsin Supreme Court, and I would need convincing evidence before I would believe something illegal was done.
But...
If you were to pick the one person most likely to commit election fraud in the state of Wisconsin, it would be Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha county clerk. She had opportunity, motive, and a history of ethical violations. According to the AP, "Nickolaus was given immunity from prosecution in a 2002 criminal investigation into illegal activity by members of the assembly Republican Caucus."
She is a former staffer for the Wisconsin Assembly Republican caucus, a donor to Republican candidates, and she is the clerk for the reddest county in Wisconsin.
She had also been warned that her secretive hoarding of information invited fraud, yet she apparently scoffed at the internal audit that was ordered by the county board recently and did not cooperate.
Aug 18, 2010 Waukesha - The County Board's Executive Committee has ordered an audit of the county clerk's election equipment and system beginning with the September primary despite several memos she sent to the committee over the weekend defending her practices and resisting the move.County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has maintained that as the one in charge of elections, she is responsible for the security and operation of the system. However, other county officials say they worry about the integrity of the old equipment and the system she's using and whether she has adequate backup.
County Corporation Counsel Thomas Farley told the committee Monday that as an elected official with responsibility for elections, "If she wants to keep everything secret, she probably can.
"I don't know if that's wise or what she should do, but if she wants to and the public is satisfied that that's what they want - someone who keeps everything secret - that's up to them."
If you read message boards from election night, the public was making numerous comments about the strange delays in reporting from Waukesha County. Nothing, nothing, nothing...then all of a sudden all precincts reported. This might be normal, or it might be the AP's fault, but it was noted to be odd at the time it happened, not just after the fact.
By now you've probably heard that Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha county clerk, somehow forgot to tell the AP about all the Supreme Court votes from Brookfield, the second largest city in Waukesha County and that her updated report to the state elections board will include votes that give David Prosser a net gain of about 7,500 votes. Those votes were supposedly on the spreadsheet that is stored on the computer that only she has access to, but she forgot to tell the AP about them.
It was "human error" and she's "sorry" about it.
Can you sense my eyebrows being raised?
One thing I can tell you is that when "mistakes are made", the first thing that an information hoarder does is fix everything before reporting the mistake.
I think there is enough here to launch a serious investigation. Not just a recount, but a criminal investigation. The fact is many Wisconsinites will consider this fraud unless it's proven otherwise. That may not be fair, but it's a fact.
Kathy Nickolaus needs to answer a lot of questions. Her computer should have been seized and locked away as soon as the error was reported. It should be given a thorough forensic exam. When did she realize the mistake? Did she change anything in any file after she discovered her error? Who did she tell and when? Why didn't she just tell the AP right away if it was an honest mistake? Did she have access to any of the physical records like ballots and election logs? (I presume she did, being the clerk.) Where were those documents over the last two days? Did she alter them in any way?
You get the idea.
The most important thing to do is count all the legitimate votes correctly, regardless of the outcome, but the result, even if correct, will be be forever suspect if the investigation into Kathy Nickolaus already ended with tonight's press conference. We deserve better than "Oops."
Finally, I thought this was interesting. The Waukesha GOP held an elections workshop in 2009:
Guest Speaker: Kathy Nickolaus, Waukesha County Clerk
Our expert, Kathy Nickolaus, is the "go to" person on the subject of elections. Don't miss this informative discussion of the Wisconsin electoral process, what works, what doesn't, and how interested citizens can become a vital part of the process!
More for your reading pleasure...
http://www.followthemoney.org/...
http://www.waukeshacounty.gov/...
Updated by Giles Goat Boy at Thu Apr 07, 2011 at 10:48 PM CDT"Statement from JoAnne Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken:
"Wisconsin voters as well as the Kloppenburg for Justice Campaign deserve a full explanation of how and why these 14,000 votes from an entire City were missed. To that end, we will be filing open records requests for all relevant documentation related to the reporting of election results in Waukesha County, as well as to the discovery and reporting of the errors announced by the County. We are confident that election officials in Waukesha County will fulfill these requests as quickly as possible so that both our campaign and the people of Wisconsin can fully understand what happened and why. Just as Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg has run to restore confidence in the court, Wisconsin residents also deserve to have full confidence in election results."
Also, John Nichols made an excellent point on the Ed Show on MSNBC. Nicolaus knew about the error Wednesday morning, but we didn't find out until Thursday after 4 p.m. when it was picked up by right-wing web sites after being tweeted by a Milwaukee right-wing radio host. Make of that what you will.
Finally, this comment was left on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel site in a number of threads on April 6. The anonymous poster quotes the Waukesha County Executive, but I can't find any other source to verify it:
"BV Clete
Apr 06, 2011 9:05 AM
After watching Waukesha County Exec Dan Vrakas gratuitously interject to a TV reporter that he had to vote on a paperless, non-traceable touch-screen voting machine, I hope voting officials and the press investigate the voting in Vrakas' precinct and elsewhere in Waukesha County. Were non-traceable voting machines used in Grothman's district as well? These are not people worthy of our trust."
"Statement from JoAnne Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken:
"Wisconsin voters as well as the Kloppenburg for Justice Campaign deserve a full explanation of how and why these 14,000 votes from an entire City were missed. To that end, we will be filing open records requests for all relevant documentation related to the reporting of election results in Waukesha County, as well as to the discovery and reporting of the errors announced by the County. We are confident that election officials in Waukesha County will fulfill these requests as quickly as possible so that both our campaign and the people of Wisconsin can fully understand what happened and why. Just as Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg has run to restore confidence in the court, Wisconsin residents also deserve to have full confidence in election results."
Also, John Nichols made an excellent point on the Ed Show on MSNBC. Nicolaus knew about the error Wednesday morning, but we didn't find out until Thursday after 4 p.m. when it was picked up by right-wing web sites after being tweeted by a Milwaukee right-wing radio host. Make of that what you will.
Finally, this comment was left on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel site in a number of threads on April 6. The anonymous poster quotes the Waukesha County Executive, but I can't find any other source to verify it:
"BV Clete
Apr 06, 2011 9:05 AM
After watching Waukesha County Exec Dan Vrakas gratuitously interject to a TV reporter that he had to vote on a paperless, non-traceable touch-screen voting machine, I hope voting officials and the press investigate the voting in Vrakas' precinct and elsewhere in Waukesha County. Were non-traceable voting machines used in Grothman's district as well? These are not people worthy of our trust."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/07/964573/-No-Evidence-of-Fraud,-but
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