The state Government Accountability Board has concluded an investigation into the behavior of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus after the April election for state Supreme Court. The board says Nickolaus violated the law by not posting all returns on election night.
However, the board says her violation was not willful, and therefore did not constitute criminal misconduct. Initial results on election night posted by Nickolaus showed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg with a narrow lead over Justice David Prosser.
Two days after the election, Nickolaus announced that she had previously failed to report 14,000 votes. With the additional votes turned in, Prosser pulled into the lead.
Democratic observers questioned the appearance of the previously unreported votes that helped Prosser pull ahead in the conservative county.
Investigators say Nickolaus’ mistake in tallying the votes was probably due to her initially loading a blank template into a reporting database, rather than a template that contained the vote totals.
Full Article: WUWM: News – Election Official Violated Law, but won’t be Charged in Supreme Court Vote Tally.