The head of the state Government Accountability Board is expecting a full statewide recount in the state Supreme Court race.
Unofficial results have challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg with a 204 vote lead over incumbent Justice David Prosser. GAB head Kevin Kennedy says those totals will shift as results are certified over the next week.
Kennedy says the earliest a candidate can start the recount process will be next week, after county clerks certify vote totals. He says the candidates can ask for only specific wards to be recounted, but the assumption is it will be done on a statewide level.
Because of the narrow margin in the race, each county will have to cover the cost of the recount. Kennedy says local clerks should be making sure everything is in order now because of the unprecedented scrutiny the results are expected to receive.
The last time there was a statewide recount was in 1989, after the defeat of a proposed Constitutional Amendment. Kennedy says their records don’t appear to show another full statewide recount involving candidates since 1858.
The next closest race for a statewide office was a Supreme Court Election in 1980, where the margin was 4,773 votes out of 1.3 million cast.