Posted on 06/16/2012 5:33:54 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON — With suspicions growing over voter fraud, incumbent Republican state Sen. Van Wanggaard is asking for a recount of votes cast in the 21st Senate District recall election — an election in which Wanggaard’s Democratic challenger, John Lehman, narrowly won.
Or so it appears.
Lehman said he’s confident the results will stand and questioned the motives of the incumbent and his party.
Earlier this week, in its canvassing of the June 5 election, Racine County elections officials found Lehman added 55 votes to his election night tally, apparently giving the Racine Democrat a victory by 834 votes. That’s a slim 1.2 percent win.
At the time, Wanggaard, through a spokesman, said he would consider his options regarding a recount.
Friday, the option considered was recount.
The Racine Republican said over the past week that he has had “dozens of people beating down” his door demanding that he ask for an immediate recount. Many of his supporters, Wanggaard said, feel disenfranchised, a feeling arguably fueled by reports of voting irregularities and allegations of voter fraud at some Racine polling sites.
In a statement, Wanggaard said he does not seek a recount as a delaying tactic.
“Like many of you, I too want to move on from the bitterness that has divided this state as a result of the recall elections,” the lawmaker said.
“But I also recognize that in the absence of a voter ID law, and so many people suspicious of the election result, bitterness and division will only grow if the results are not recounted,” he added.
So much for the overtures of goodwill expressed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Lehman said.
Still, Lehman expressed confidence, even as he sounded tones of fatigue and suspicion.
“We think it was a fair election, and we will prevail,” said Lehman, who served as senator of the 21st Senate District before he was beaten by Wanggaard in 2010, when Republicans swept into power in the Legislature and governor’s mansion.
The Democrat noted that Walker, who scored a decisive victory over Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the statewide recall election, won the 21st Senate District on the same ballot, on which Wanggaard apparently lost.
More so, Lehman cast a critical eye on the political motives of the recount, wholly endorsed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate.
“I don’t know what the real objective is, if Mr. Wanggaard is a pawn of some larger political strategy,” he said.
If Lehman’s victory stands, it would be a crucial win for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, giving the party a 17-16 majority in the state Senate.
As it stands, the Senate is evenly split, following the resignation of state Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, who resigned not long before she was recalled, citing family medical issues.
State Rep. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, easily won the special election for the open seat. If he is sworn in before the recount is cleared up, Republicans would regain the majority.
Lehman said the GOP would then control staffing, committee assignments and the flow of bills.
That worry may prove premature, but recounts, as Wisconsin learned last spring in a heated Supreme Court race, can drag out.
The Government Accountability Board, the state’s election watchdog, Monday is expected to issue an order for recount, which would begin Wednesday. Election officials then would have 10 calendar days to conduct the recount.
“I would expect they would be able to finish late next week. Then there’s a five (business) day period afterwards to appeal to the decision to circuit court,” said GAB staff counsel Mike Haas.
Wanggaard said he seeks only to assure voters about the integrity of the election, guided by what he said is a simple philosophy: “Trust but verify.”
“This is not about maintaining power or denying Democrats power,” Wanggaard said, adding that there are no “secret plans” for a special legislative session while the votes are recounted.
But the recount will cost taxpayers, a point not lost on Wanggaard and fellow Republicans who have decried the heavy expense of the spate of recalls driven by Democrats.
Because of the margin of victory, Wanggaard had to pay $685 for the recount, $5 for each of the 137 wards in the Senate district. Racine County taxpayers also will be on the hook for the recount. County clerk Wendy Christensen estimated the recount would cost $10,000. She said the recount of April’s judicial election cost more than $7,000 with less than half as many votes cast.
“This is what we expected,” said Randolph Brandt, treasurer for the Committee to Recall Van Wanggaard. “We expected a lot of resistance from the candidate and the party. They’re going to use every opportunity to derail it. But in the end there’s not anything they can do.”
“Unfortunately, the last political act of Van Wanggaard is going to cost Racine taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars,” Lehman said.
Republicans may bristle at Lehman’s characterization. According to GAB, the six recall elections last week will cost taxpayers some $16 million, considerably less than a Senate recount.
Irregularities
The close election has been clouded by allegations of voter irregularities.
On election night, a volunteer from the Wanggaard campaign told Wisconsin Reporter he saw a van full of people pull up to a polling place after the cutoff time 8 p.m. and vote.
The MacIver Institute reported election irregularities in the form of pre-certified voter registration forms found in a trash bin behind a polling place in Racine. The Racine County sheriff’s department has confirmed it is investigating the allegation.
MacIver is a Wisconsin-based think tank that promotes free markets, individual freedom, personal responsibility and limited government, according to its website.
“There has not been anything officially reported to my office. I am aware the sheriff’s investigation is doing a couple investigations. No one officially reported anything to me,” Christensen said.
Haas said registration forms are “supposed to be signed by an elector before the clerk.”
“We’d probably want to talk to the clerks involved. We would be especially concerned if there were completed registration forms signed by a voter and ended up in a Dumpster,” the elections official said.
Haas said most allegations of voter fraud are handled by local authorities — the district attorney and the sheriff’s department — because they are criminal charges. He added, “We haven’t received any complaints with specific facts that we could follow up on having to do with alleged voter fraud.”
The Racine County District Attorney declined to comment.
The last recount of a state Senate election happened in 2010, when state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, defeated Republican challenger Ed Thompson by 0.66 percent of the vote. The recount upheld Vinehout’s victory.
isconsin: Wanggaard recount details ping
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
HhhMmm so that’s what happened to those buses from Michigan..
Any objective, impartial observer or election official in the state of Wisconsin would have to take account of the enitre voting pattern throughout the state. I have carefully done that, and.....I can tell you the Racine are voting wetn against the pattern of voting in the entire state of Wisconsin. A recount is fully in order. Someone, I don’t know who, on the Democrat side was cooking the books, big time!!!
In one of the 36 precincts, a woman was caught voting for the third time. All three votes were counted...
The Wisonsin State Senate will not even be in session again until after the November elections. What happens before then is essentially meaningless.
Residents aren't getting the government they want or deserve. They are getting the government that the dems will cheat to create. How can they live such a lie?
This is less about reversing the outcome than about keeping the focus on election fraud and the need to pass a Voter ID law in WI.
This will be a good dry run to teach the Republicans what kind of behavior to look for from the unions in November. Hell, the state has a surplus of funds..........
“Unfortunately, the last political act of Van Wanggaard is going to cost Racine taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars,” Lehman said.
Can you believe that statement? Let this sink in. The democRATS were the ones who started the whole recall process to begin with, costing the tax payers $16 million. Now that the Republican wants to do a recount (for less than $10 thousand), all of a sudden the RATS are complaining about the cost to tax payers.
Liberals really are insane.
So what is involved in the recount? Are the names challenged against records? Or is it purely just a counting of the ballots?
I have a Q for you or someone from Wisconsin that can answer it...As I understand this “recount” it is only a “recount” and not a verification of eligibility to vote? No auditing of address/names, etc. Just recounting of ballots, some of which may be fraudulent. If so, not much point.
Only 3 times?? What a slacker... /s
>>In one of the 36 precincts, a woman was caught voting for the third time. All three votes were counted...<<
Link please? (I’ll try Google, but if you’re going to state something like this, you really should cite the source as well.)
yes. this is exactly the way to fight evil. note the technique of all liars. to take the most damning piece of evidence against them and use it to support their evil. this is the “big lie.”
the most damning evidence against the dem is that walker won the district. why would individuals split their recall vote? that is a smoking gun.
no. no slacking off. no excuses. count every legitimate vote. discount every fraud. evil must be faced. wanggard has my support and gratitude. he is one rare republican. looks like he may be a patriot.
You’re right...not much point.
All the recount will accomplish is adding up all the votes again, and overturning an 800 plus margin will be difficult. I don’t think examination of the registration process, or of multiple votes cast by an individual, will even be be part of the recount process.
And even if it were, it would be impossible to figure out which votes to toss out, once they’ve been illegally cast. This is why we desperately need the voter ID law (and why Democrats so strenuously oppose it.) Once the vote is cast, it’s counted, regardless whether the voter cast it illegally.
It will be interesting to find out what the undervote (ballots with a vote against Van Wanggaard but no vote in the Governor recall portion of the ballot) is in Van Wanggaard’s district vs other non Senatorial recall districts? Of course, there may be no way to find out without recounting the other districts.
“What happens before then is essentially meaningless.”
Wagganard wins in recount, Walker calls a special session and they take down the unions completely.
That’s what could happen. It’s only meaningless if the RAT wins.
Same day voter registration needs to be tossed as well.
Van Wanggaard is a former police investigator. Perhaps he has a nose for illegal conduct and feels there may be some involved here. But if votes are merely recounted and not authenticated in terms of name, address, eligibility,etc. then it is merely and exercise in futility...
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