Waukesha County Wants More Time for Recount

Update: Waukesha County now has counted about 18 percent of the ballots as the Board of Canvassers worked until 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to an e-mail from Ellen Nowak, chief of staff to Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas. The board will begin recounting ballots from the City of Brookfield on Thursday.

Earlier: With 16 percent of its votes recounted after seven days, Waukesha County officials on Wedneday asked for a time extension and plan to double the number of volunteer tabulators in a larger room starting Monday.

Retired Waukesha County Circuit Judge Robert Mawdsley, who is overseeing the county's recount of the state Supreme Court race, sent a letter today to Nathan Robinson, elections division administrator for the Government Accountability Board.

"Waukesha County has a significant number of observers in this process and is under more scrutiny than any other county," Mawdsley wrote. "The Board (of Canvassers) is working as fast as the GAB rules, tabulators and record making responsibilities allow.

"It is time consuming to provide explanations for any discrepancy, make a sufficient record and to answer questions posed by representatives from both candidates," Mawdsley wrote.

He said the county originally opted to process one reporting unit at a time. After two days, it decided to work on reconciling the poll books for a second reporting unit while another unit's ballots were being counted.

Starting on Monday, Mawdsley wrote, the county would work on "multiple" reporting units simultaneously, as occurred in Milwaukee County which on the first day simultaneously recounted votes in West Allis, Shorewood and parts of Milwaukee. 

At the end of Wednesday, Waukesha County had completed a hand recount of 20,386 votes or about 16 percent of the 125,070 countywide total certified after the election.

Statewide, about 75 percent of all reporting units (2,717 of 3,602) had been recounted as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the GAB. The state's 72 counties had recounted 1,044,530 votes, or about 70 percent of the orginal votes cast in the State Supreme Court race.

Ellen Nowak, chief of staff for Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas, said the state had not yet indicated whether it would go to court to seek the extension to the May 9 deadline.

Up next to be recounted is the City of Brookfield, whose votes were not included in Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' election night total to media. Its recount is scheduled to begin about 9 a.m. Thursday.

The omission of Brookfield's votes led to a big swing in favor of incumbent David Prosser over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg who asked for the statewide recount.

Mawdsley was assigned as chairman of the Waukesha County recount after Nickolaus recused herself to avoid potential challenges and distractions.