Waukesha - Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has recused herself from overseeing the Supreme Court recount set to begin statewide Wednesday.
Nickolaus requested to be replaced from overseeing the recount in a letter to County Executive Dan Vrakas, chief of staff Ellen Nowak said.
Vrakas appointed retired Circuit Court Judge Robert Mawdsley to oversee the recount.
Nickolaus came under fire after disclosing that she failed to report votes from the City of Brookfield on election night.
The campaign of JoAnne Kloppenburg requested a recount after the official tally shows Kloppenburg lost to Justice David Prosser by 7,316 votes - less than 0.5% of the 1.5 million votes cast in the race. The election initially appeared much closer, with Kloppenburg up by 204 votes, before Nickolaus announced her initial, unofficial tally failed to include the 14,315 votes from the City of Brookfield.
Nowak said Nickolaus participated in Monday's planning meeting with the Government Accountability Board, a teleconference held with county clerks, and submitted her letter afterward.
Vrakas appointed Mawdsley that same day. Mawdsley, who was Waukesha County's corporation counsel before he became a judge in 1988, retired from the bench in 2009.
Nickolaus took herself out of the recount process, Nowak said, to avoid the appearance of conflict or to give the candidates the ability to raise objections about her performance.
Nickolaus sent out communications to local clerks who had to provide additional materials for the recount, which starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Nickolaus will still be present for the recount as the county clerk, Nowak said. She will not serve on the Canvass Board, which includes Democrat Ramona Kitzinger and Republican Pat Karcher.
As a result of Nickolaus' election-night reporting error, the Government Accountability Board investigated her canvass and her business practices. Last week, the board said that despite some anomalies, the canvass was consistent with results reported by local municipal clerks.
However, the board said it would issue a report within 60 days after a more thorough investigation of her election operation and how she reports results to the public and state.
The county also hired a recently retired state elections official, Barb Hansen of the Town of Delafield, as a consultant to assist Mawdsley in the recount.
Nowak said Hansen was the deputy to Kevin Kennedy, head of the Government Accountability Board, before the state elections office was reorganized.