Waukesha County to audit election equipment

Clerk criticized for not sharing data with other departments

Aug. 18, 2010
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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Aug. 18, 2010 0

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."

The issue came to a head when Nickolaus removed the election results collection and tallying system from the county computer network this spring and installed it on standalone personal computers in her office. She has said they are backed up with redundant systems.

Director of Administration Norman A. Cummings said Nickolaus has been uncooperative with attempts to have information technologists review the system and confirm the backups.

He said he isn't interested in placing the system on the county network, but he wants to know whether the system is functional and secure and whether the county will have to replace equipment and programs in the next budget year - in time for the next presidential election.

"It is not a good idea to have one person in charge of everything," Cummings told the committee. "There should be someone who also reviews things. I'm not saying it should be IT. But there should be more accountability than there is now."

Nickolaus had asked for a postponement of the discussion because she had scheduled poll worker training before the matter was scheduled for committee action.

In several memos to the committee, she said she didn't have confidence that security wouldn't be breached with the county's information technology department.

She presented information from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that said voting systems should never be connected to a network not under the election official's control.

She also said she's running the most current election software certified - as required - by the state.

The only old equipment, she wrote, was a computer that collects results from local polling places by modem over the telephone lines.

Waukesha County is one of three or four counties that use that method.

"The rest have the results faxed, walked into the county clerk's office, or phoned in," she said.

Nickolaus also produced an e-mail from the staff attorney for the state's Government Accountability Board.

The attorney, Michael Haas, said that under state law, the clerk is ultimately responsible for securing election records and equipment.

Clerks also are subject to a complaint process, he added.

"In the event that an election is affected by an equipment issue, in other words, the clerk is likely to be the official held responsible and left to answer to any affected parties," Haas wrote.

Some committee members criticized Nickolaus for not providing election results for municipalities on election night, or not providing them soon enough at the April election.

Nickolaus reports county, state and federal results but discontinued local municipal and school reporting, contending that she doesn't have the staff to enter the data.

About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
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