Wisconsin
Related: About this forumQuestions remain in Senate recount.....
A recount in the 21st state Senate District is over, but there is still a lot of disagreement about what happened during the balloting in June. Results submitted to the state Government Accountability Board Monday show Democrat John Lehman defeating incumbent Republican Senator Van Wanggaard in the June 5th recall election, although Lehmans margin of victory shrank from 834 votes to 819. However, Wanggaard says the recount revealed even more suspicious activity.
Wanggaard campaign attorney Jonathan Strasburg said the issues uncovered, especially in the city of Racine, are serious and used procedures that would make Fidel Castro blush.
Those problems ranged from ballot bags, empty ballots that had been initialed by poll workers and missing voter signatures on poll books. Senator-elect John Lehman characterized them as harmless mistakes. He says there were minor election administration errors, but the findings of the recount back up the initial election results.
Racine County Clerk Wendy Chistensen says what she saw was carelessness on the part of some poll workers. She says some places performed poorly and admits there is a need for improvement.
The Wanggaard campaign now has five days to decide if they will contest the results in circuit court. /b]WTH???/
postulater
(5,075 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)votes is the 819?
thoughtcrime1984
(2,996 posts)dragonlady
(3,577 posts)someone should intervene with a complaint about the illegal harassment of voters by Republican supporters, many from out of state. The mistakes by poll workers may have been careless, but the Republican activities were obviously intentional.
Link to summary of harassment: http://rootriversiren.blogspot.com/2012/06/racine-election-integrity-svu.html
This blog has a lot of good information about the whole Racine situation. Also check out their July 3 posting about how Republicans are making open records requests for the names of everyone who registered on election day, every poll worker, etc. Are the Wanggaardians gearing up for a court case? You betcha.
a kennedy
(29,707 posts)Sen.-elect John Lehman today charged that Sen. Van Wanggaard and GOP leadership are "insulting" the voters of the 21st Senate District by refusing to concede last month's recall election.
Lehman said the campaigns have heard virtually the same result in the 21st District three times -- in unofficial returns, in the official canvass and after a recount -- and said he wants to get to work on job creation with Senate Dems.
Lehman had a lead of 819 votes following the conclusion of the recount Monday, down from an 834-vote lead in the canvass. Wanggaard, R-Racine, may still challenge the results in court, and said after the recount ended that he would take some time to weigh his options. He has until July 10 to file a lawsuit.
"We have a long history of close elections in Racine," Lehman said. "But for somebody to stretch that, and to say that, 'We want to keep talking about this as some kind of a fraudulent situation,' is just really inappropriate and doesn't respect the long tradition in this country of peaceful turnover of power."
Senate Republicans responded that Wanggaard's actions are justified.
Van Wanggaard is granted time under the law to decide whether or not to appeal the recount, said CERS executive director Dan Romportl. In light of all issues that were exposed with the city of Racines facilitation of the election, it is certainly justifiable that Van is using that time to decide what course of action to take.
Just concede ya louse.
edit to add: http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=273974