All counties but Waukesha expected to meet recount deadline

By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

All counties with the exception of Waukesha County are expected to complete the recount of the state Supreme Court election by the 5 p.m. Monday deadline, the Government Accountability Board said late Friday afternoon.

Waukesha County officials earlier in the week informed the board that the hand recount would not be completed by the deadline and the board will seek a court extension of the deadline on Monday.

Kevin Kennedy, accountability board director, said the court hearing on the extension for Waukesha County is scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday in Dane County Circuit Court.

Ellen Nowak, chief of staff to Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas, said Friday officials don't know yet how much more time will be needed to complete the recount.

As of late Friday, the recount was only about 30% complete in Waukesha County, Nowak said.

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Board thought that Dane County would need an additional day beyond the deadline to complete its recount, but that no longer is the case, Reid Magney, a board spokesman, said Friday.

Retired Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Robert Mawdsley is overseeing the county recount. County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus recused herself amid controversy over restated vote totals in the county that swung the statewide results from a slight lead for Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg to a wider lead of more than 7,000 votes for Justice David Prosser, or 0.5%.

Votes from the City of Brookfield were initially omitted from Nickolaus' unofficial election night vote report to the public and media.

Kloppenburg requested a statewide recount.

The recount of the City of Brookfield votes began on Thursday. The Brookfield recount is expected to be finished on Saturday, Nowak said.

Waukesha County should have a better sense of how much longer the recount will take after Monday, Nowak said.

Beginning Monday morning, more tabulators are being lined up to count votes in a larger room so that more than one reporting unit can be counted at a time.

Mawdsley has said the effort would be expanded if the initial effort that is doubled in size functions well.

Nowak said the recount is taking longer in Waukesha County for several reasons.

"Waukesha has had more observers than other counties and, therefore, more objections raised and we are also using a court reporter to document such objections, which slows the process," she said.