The Woman Who Could SPOIL WISCONSIN

[Segami]

Kathy Nickolaus (Credit: AP/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/Michael Sears)


Kathy Nickolaus is the nation's most notorious election clerk -- and Dems worry that she's out to help Scott Walker




" For months, progressives have raised the alarm over what role Kathy Nickolaus, the nation’s most notorious county election clerk, would play in counting tonight’s Wisconsin recall results. Their fears were echoed by the pro-Walker Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which wrote in April that Waukesha County’s voting snafus on her watch had “damaged her office’s credibility beyond repair.”



In a closely-watched judicial election in April 2011 – seen as a referendum on Scott Walker’s agenda – a seeming Democratic victory evaporated when Nickolaus announced she’d found 14,000 misplaced ballots from her deep-red county two days after the election. In April’s GOP presidential primary, issues with Waukesha County’s election computer system led to more delayed results, as paper voting slips were gathered from across the county and put up on the walls of an office to be counted. This morning, the county executive office’s chief of staff told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that Nicklaus “will not be involved in the vote counting this evening,” but that she could be in the office anyway. Some say that’s not good enough.



As Sargent notes, “similar assurances were given a month ago” for the recall primaries. But a TV news station caught Nickolaus present in the office, and appearing “to be very much in charge of the count.” An anonymous observer told Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll that Nickolaus “was there, and she made it seem as if she was in control.” Republican Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas told the Waukesha Freeman that vote counts were being handled by a deputy clerk, and that “I’d prefer that she wasn’t here on election night but I can’t ban her from the building anymore than I can ban anyone else from the building.” Nickolaus and Vrakas did not return requests for comment this morning.



Reached over e-mail, We Are Wisconsin spokesperson Kelly Steele said, “Despite the dog-and-pony show in Waukesha County suggesting she’s stepped aside all evidence – except her own word – points to her remaining firmly in control of the most controversial jurisdiction in Wisconsin, which just happens to be the heart and soul of Scott Walker’s base.”






cont'

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/05/the_woman_who_could_spoil_wisconsin/singleton/


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[PeaceNikki]

1. You know what will spoil WI, not enough Dems in Milwaukee and Dane voting.

The end.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. Right! Even if she is successful, if our numbers are through the roof in Dane, that's all she wrote.

Pun intended.

[PeaceNikki]

6. This story has factual errors & omits the fact that we have hundreds of eyes on every polling place

in the County and AT the county.

Stop with the preemptive blaming of Waukesha County, there are a lot of professionals watching. We've had the unique experience of learning what to look for via the recount and a few elections since to practice.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. I wasn't blaming you. Wait... I'm on YOUR side!! :(

[EOTE]

5. I know you think that there's no chance of election fraud in this election...

but it happens. It's happened a number of times in the past and it continues to happen. Elections in the U.S. continue to be influenced by it. I'm sorry, but your assurance to the contrary doesn't really make me believe that election fraud is an impossibility or that it will necessarily be spotted immediately.

[PeaceNikki]

8. I never said there's no chance. Ever. If I thought that I wouldn't BE OBSERVING, FFS!!

[EOTE]

10. You said that the only thing that could spoil this election is low turnout.

That's not true. Fraud can also spoil this election. Something that you seem to think will not be an issue in spite of it occurring numerous times in the past.

[PeaceNikki]

11. I didn't say 'only'. Look again.

[EOTE]

13. Well, you did say "the end", which gives a bit of finality to it.

And it does seem as if you've been downplaying all fears of election fraud around here. I just think it's incredibly naive to think that the Walker side doesn't fully intend to steal this election and to not believe that they'll have at least a fair amount of success. I have extremely little faith in having fair and honest elections in America now.

[PeaceNikki]

16. And I think it's shitty to dismiss all of the work people on the ground are doing.

I think I have a healthy mix of trust and distrust in the system. I trust enough to cast my vote and encourage others to and I distrust enough to watch with my own 2 eyes.

I understand people being skeptical of my county, but Waukesha County Democrats are among the best that exist. In addition, there are complete lies, fabrications and misunderstandings about what actually happened in the SC race and in the recount. For example, this OP states there were 14k ballots missing. No. No ballots were ever missing. They were not included in the total reported to media. That's different than the BALLOTS being missing. There have been safeguards put in place to prevent that specific error again.

Yes, I get defensive about it because this is my home. There is nothing else on DU that I can or do speak about with such an air of authority, but this is one. I am knee-deep in it... LITERALLY. And I *will* speak up because it effects me.

[EOTE]

18. I want all Wisconsinites to vote as well.

If I still lived in the state, you can bet your ass I'd have voted by now. And skepticism is absolutely required in this day and age if you're going to participate in the electoral system. I don't care if the ballots were not missing, they were unaccounted for and clearly manipulated. I have zero faith that we had a legitimate outcome of the SC election and I have very little faith that the recall election won't have a similar "fuck up" whether intentional or not.

Speak up all you want, but to be so dismissive of the right's attempts to steal elections is naive.

[bigdarryl]

2. I though her fat ass had resigned that position

[We Want Peace]

7. Waukesha Stonewall: Officials Refuse to Say Who’s In Charge of Monitoring Elections, Counting Result

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002768126

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Where is Jimmy Carter

When we need him. I'm not being sarcastic - I'm being serious. This needs oversight. She has a proven record of scurrilous behavior. That woman cannot be trusted.

[Scootaloo]

15. US elections are so fucked-up that independent oversight agencies are pretty much useless

There's no national standard for voting is the basic problem. every state, even county has different rules and practices and methods and times and god knows what else that makes elections - especially national elections - a crazy indecipherable mess.

Basically, we may have invented it, but we're the ones still stuck using the beta version.

[JustAnotherGen]

22. Thanks for the sanity check

[Ellipsis]

9. I think you misspelled a word in the OP. There no p in soil

[Blue Owl]

17. Wouldn't be the first time she's taken a dump on democracy

IMO she's a cheesier, lower-rent version of Katherine Harris.

[Blue Owl]

12. Kathy Nickolaus, Election Crook

Cheater, Fraud, and Enemy of Democracy.

Friend and former employee of the GOP.

[RandySF]

14. I heard she was sidelined for this election.

Perhaps I am wrong.

[TBF]

19. Isn't DOJ monitoring this election - I hope they have a camera on her all day/night. nt

[HopeHoops]

20. All that cheese gone to waste.

[Ellipsis]

23. Nobody like a loose wattle

[rhett o rick]

21. Sooner or later she will over reach. They always do. Their power goes to their heads. nm

[flamingdem]

25. No one organized to prevent her from working the polls?

So she played a bait and switch? Bummer.