A Central Wisconsin County Clerk says he colleague in Waukesha County should not resign over a vote-counting mishap. Clark County Clerk Christina Jensen says she doesn’t believe for a second that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus had ulterior motives when she initially failed to report around 14,000 votes from the City of Brookfield.
Those missing votes ultimately swung the Supreme Court race to conservative Justice David Prosser. The mistake was bound to garner criticism and skepticism, especially since Nickolaus is a Republican with ties to Prosser.
With all of the demands on clerks on election nights, Jensen says a mistake such as forgetting to save data at one point could very easily happen. Jensen says the system worked as it was supposed to though, with the obvious omission caught the morning after the election.
Jensen, a Republican, says changes to voting procedures have made clerks’ jobs even tougher. She says that’s why she’s opposed to her party’s proposal to require voters to show a photo ID at polling places. She says the bill will add another burden to local poll workers and disenfranchise voters.
Senate Bill Six is still awaiting final passage in the Legislature.