Waukesha County’s sudden release of almost 14,000 votes Thursday in the race for state Supreme Court is prompting calls for an independent investigation of the results. Robert Kraig with Citizen Action of Wisconsin says the U.S. Attorney’s Office should step in to review what happened and why it took nearly two days for the Waukesha County Clerk to release information about the error.
Kraig says the longer officials wait to intervene, the greater the chance that crucial evidence could be lost or destroyed. He says there are far too many questions about how votes from Brookfield were accidentally left out of unofficial results, and failing to take action could leave half of the state wondering if the election was just stolen.
The announcement suddenly gave incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser an almost 7,500 vote lead over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. The change widened a gap that had only numbered a few hundred votes after the election and greatly reduced the chances of a statewide recount.
If a similar situation had occurred in Milwaukee County, Kraig believes officials would already be swooping in to seize ballots and voting equipment. He says such a major discrepancy deserves close scrutiny.
Kraig admits the whole situation could really be the result of an error made by the Waukesha County Clerk. However, he does not believe the people of Wisconsin should just take her word for it.
