The state Government Accountability Board is helping Waukesha County take steps to prevent further problems with reporting Election Night returns.
During the upcoming recall elections, the GAB wants municipal clerks in Waukesha County to post Election Night results to a state computer system in Madison. The move will also make the numbers available to the county clerk’s staff to post online
Officials hope the change will resolve problems seen during the April 3rd election, when there were long delays in posting vote totals online because municipal clerks were required to physically deliver results to County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus. Those results then had to be checked by hand, and most were not posted until more than six hours later.
It was another mark on Nickolaus’ record of running elections in Waukesha County. During the same April election last year, an error resulted in more than 14,000 votes from Brookfield not being counted on Election Night. It was not until several days after the election that Nickolaus reported the problem, which changed the results of a State Supreme Court race and lead to a statewide recount for that election.
Nickolaus has already agreed to let her deputy clerk oversee the upcoming recall elections, after county officials had called for her resignation.