Week In Review: Brookfield Patch Drawn into the State Supreme Court Race

Who knew a decision to serve readers — and pass time while watching state Supreme Court returns — would become a key part of a national story less than 48 hours later? 

As , I decided to write about not only the winners in Brookfield's two contested school board races, but also how residents voted in the only other contested races on their ballot: state Supreme Court and Waukesha County Circuit Court.

I had to create my own spreadsheets for the judicial races, using the data the city clerk emailed to me before she went home on election night. (She also handed me printouts of city residents' votes for school board). So I sat at City Hall — after everyone had gone home — and filed a few paragraphs and charts of the ward-by-ward breakdowns of and . I was the only media outlet to do so.

Two days later, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus issued a stunning announcement that the countywide totals she released on election night included no votes from the City of Brookfield, the second-largest community in the county, a Republican stronghold. She said she forgot to "save" the city's spreadsheet into her countywide spreadsheet. It was a mistake that gave incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a comfortable lead of about 7,500 votes over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, who had declared victory on election night with a 200-vote lead out of nearly 1.5 million cast.

My story and chart have been used since Nickolaus' bombshell to fuel arguments on the left and right end of the political spectrum about which Waukesha County totals are accurate — the first, the revised or neither. I can say with certainty that the numbers I reported were given to me on election night from the city clerk's office.

What was or wasn't included in the Waukesha countywide total released to AP on election night, I have no idea. I never saw a countywide total broken down by municipality, and I don't know if AP ever did either.

Nickolaus said the election night countywide total included all but Brookfield, and the Board of Canvassers agreed after its review, along with a couple other smaller vote changes in New Berlin and the Town of Lisbon. State elections officials and the Kloppenburg campaign are conducting their own reviews.

Here's a roundup of some of this week's election and other stories on Brookfield Patch:

Sunday: Brookfield mom Erika Rutley put out a next fall for her 3-year-old daughter. She feared she had already missed the boat for registations. And readers on Facebook and the web site said she was right. Rutley wrote this . 

Monday: Waukesha County Circuit and accused of creating a middle-of-the-night scene in Caledonia after accusing a male friend of being with another woman there.

Also Monday, there were stories and video posted on two Elmbrook School Board races — one with  and the other, . In sports, hours after the Brewers held their home opener, a . 

Tuesday: AKA Election Day. Brookfield Patch started with an analyis/overview story saying the biggest question won't be who wins any race on the ballot but . Republicans were banking on a big turnout in GOP strongholds like Brookfield to re-elect incumbent Prosser. 

and the city clerk was predicting more than 40% by poll-close. Brookfield Patch heard that Tuesday's election would be the last for a . A couple hours after the polls closed, Brookfield Patch filed stories about and winning terms on the School Board. 

Wednesday: Shortly after midnight, while watching the tennis-like lead changes in the state Supreme Court race, Brookfield Patch posted a .

Later Wednesday, there was a story about how , albeit slightly. Patch reporters also , which would be part of a statewide recount, should that occur. And in non-election news, the Brookfield -anchored retail and office complex.

Thursday: A was posted before the explosive news that a 200-vote election lead by Kloppenburg was decimated when Republican Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus held a press conference to announce she had in the countywide total she released on election night to Associated Press. The result: a net 7,500 swing for Prosser. Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas defended Nickolaus.

Friday:  and Kloppenburg campaign volunteers as . Former GOP Assembly candidate Randy Melchert filmed the tedious canvass review on livestream. Patch editor Joe Petrie wrote about and her role in the GOP caucuses about same time Prosser was the GOP's Assembly speaker.

Saturday:  for the only public hearing in Southeastern Wisconsin on the governor's proposed 2011-13 state budget. a traffic dispute between a janitor and parents picking up their children and a bad call at a soccer game leading to a brawl and battery charges.

Have a great week, everyone.