Statewide recount would be first in more than 20 years
Madison — The state Supreme Court race for now has all the hallmarks of the first statewide recount in more than two decades.
Kevin Kennedy, head of the Government Accountability Board, which administers state elections, said a candidate can request a recount at no cost to the candidate if the margins of a race are within one-half of 1%.
With all but a handful of the precincts reporting Wednesday morning, challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg led incumbent Justice David Prosser by a little more than 300 votes. With a statewide vote total of nearly 1.5 million in that race, the margin separating the two was just a few hundredths of 1% - easily within the state's trigger for a recount at no cost to whoever turns out to be the official loser in a race still too close to call.
The cost of a recount is steep, likely well over $1 million, with those costs largely borne by counties that have to recount the ballots, Kennedy said.
Candidates can't yet formally request a recount from the Accountability Board because county officials haven't finished putting together their official vote totals, Kennedy said.
The earliest a recount could begin would be next week, he said.
The last time a statewide recount occurred was in 1989 and involved a voter referendum rather than a race between candidates, Kennedy said. The referendum involved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have allowed state officials to provide income tax credits on property taxes or sales taxes paid by taxpayers, Kennedy said.
The proposal lost by 650 votes in the first official count and after the recount ended up still losing by the wider margin of 1,098 votes, he said.
"Recounts usually don't make a difference," he said.
Here's how the process would work in the coming days:
By 4 p.m. Wednesday, municipal clerks must deliver all their materials to the offices of county clerks around the state.
By 9 a.m. Thursday, county boards of canvassers have to start meeting and making an official report on ward by ward vote totals. Those reports will be sent to the Accountability Board.
The Accountability Board technically has until May 15 to certify the results, but Kennedy said a recount could begin as soon as Tuesday.
Once official statewide results are in, the losing candidate has three business days to decide whether or not to request a recount.
If a recount is requested, the Accountability Board would issue an order that it start simultaneously in counties around the state. Workers would essentially sort through all the voting materials, double-check that they have the proper number of voters in each area, and recount ballots.
Observers could challenge ballots, which would then be set aside for further review.
In Wisconsin, about 90% of ballots are counted by running a paper document filled out by a voter through an optical scanner, Kennedy said.
Once counties complete their work on a possible recount, the new official totals would be sent to the Accountability Board again.
Kevin Kennedy, head of the Government Accountability Board, which administers state elections, said a candidate can request a recount at no cost to the candidate if the margins of a race are within one-half of 1%.
With all but a handful of the precincts reporting Wednesday morning, challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg led incumbent Justice David Prosser by a little more than 300 votes. With a statewide vote total of nearly 1.5 million in that race, the margin separating the two was just a few hundredths of 1% - easily within the state's trigger for a recount at no cost to whoever turns out to be the official loser in a race still too close to call.
The cost of a recount is steep, likely well over $1 million, with those costs largely borne by counties that have to recount the ballots, Kennedy said.
Candidates can't yet formally request a recount from the Accountability Board because county officials haven't finished putting together their official vote totals, Kennedy said.
The earliest a recount could begin would be next week, he said.
The last time a statewide recount occurred was in 1989 and involved a voter referendum rather than a race between candidates, Kennedy said. The referendum involved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have allowed state officials to provide income tax credits on property taxes or sales taxes paid by taxpayers, Kennedy said.
The proposal lost by 650 votes in the first official count and after the recount ended up still losing by the wider margin of 1,098 votes, he said.
"Recounts usually don't make a difference," he said.
Here's how the process would work in the coming days:
By 4 p.m. Wednesday, municipal clerks must deliver all their materials to the offices of county clerks around the state.
By 9 a.m. Thursday, county boards of canvassers have to start meeting and making an official report on ward by ward vote totals. Those reports will be sent to the Accountability Board.
The Accountability Board technically has until May 15 to certify the results, but Kennedy said a recount could begin as soon as Tuesday.
Once official statewide results are in, the losing candidate has three business days to decide whether or not to request a recount.
If a recount is requested, the Accountability Board would issue an order that it start simultaneously in counties around the state. Workers would essentially sort through all the voting materials, double-check that they have the proper number of voters in each area, and recount ballots.
Observers could challenge ballots, which would then be set aside for further review.
In Wisconsin, about 90% of ballots are counted by running a paper document filled out by a voter through an optical scanner, Kennedy said.
Once counties complete their work on a possible recount, the new official totals would be sent to the Accountability Board again.
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