12 replies to this topic

[Deadshow Dan]

Scandal in Fitzwalkerstan: Federal probe, full recount required in high court race



Suppose the Democratic governor of Illinois had proposed radical changes in how the state operates, and suppose anger over those proposed changes inspired a popular uprising that filled the streets of every city, village and town in the state with protests. Then, suppose there was an election that would decide whether allies of the governor controlled the state

[freshwater dan]

Something stinks in Waukesha, and it's not the dairy air.

[Jwheelz]

Something is definitely not right, and I think The "human error" is cause enough to require a full recount at least in Waukesha County...

[Joker]

Excerpt from link below


UPDATE: 10:51 p.m. -- Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at what the new numbers mean for Waukesha County's turnout rate:

Before the adjustment, Waukesha would have registered by far the biggest decrease in turnout of any county in the state between last fall

[freshwater dan]

Still stinks like a barnyard. Regardless of some old broad with a Democratic label giving it her blessing.

[Deadshow Dan]

[Deadshow Dan]

UPDATE: 10:54 p.m. -- Also at the press conference, Ramona Kitzinger, a Democratic member of the county board of canvass, agreed with Nickolaus and said they "went over everything and made sure that all the numbers jived up, and they did."

This does not jibe with what she says about it. Basically this 80 year old woman says she's not the person to be able to confirm whether it's all jived up.
Statement & Account of Ramona Kitzinger, Waukesha Board of Canvassers member since 2004:

Monday, April 11, 2011
(Waukesha County Democratic Party)@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; }On Tuesday night, I received a voice message from someone in the office of Clerk Kathy Nickolaus informing me of a Wednesday canvass meeting, which I returned the next morning and said I would be able to report into the canvass by noon � which I did. Normally the canvass would begin at 9am on Thursday, as has been the general practice for many years. No one explained why they were beginning the canvass on Wednesday, just to please report immediately.

Before this telephone call, I had not been contacted as the designated Democratic observer, and I saw no public notice of the abnormal canvass time. The phone call simply instructed me to report by noon to begin the canvass, which I did. The canvass then proceeded as normal, with no glaring irregularities or mention of a possible 15,000 vote error in Brookfield City.

On Thursday, I then showed up as per normal procedure at 9am and the canvass again went normally and concluded sometime between 4pm and 5pm. During the course of the day, the issue of minor vote corrections in New Berlin and Lisbon came up, but again nothing of a historic nature or reflecting glaring irregularities. In fact, the matter of vote totals in Brookfield City came up specifically during the course of Thursday�s canvass. In retrospect, it seems both shocking and somewhat appalling there was no mention of discovery of this 15,000 vote �human error� that ultimately had the potential to tip the balance of an entire statewide election. How is this possible?

Once the canvass had been completed and the results were finalized, I was called into Kathy�s office along with Pat (the Republican observer) and told of an impending 5:30pm press conference. It was at that point that I was first made aware of an error Kathy had made in Brookfield City. Kathy told us she thought she had saved the Brookfield voter information Tuesday night, but then on Wednesday she said she noticed she had not hit save. Kathy didn�t offer an explanation about why she didn�t mention anything prior to Thursday afternoon�s canvass completion, but showed us different tapes where numbers seemed to add up, though I have no idea where the numbers were coming from. I was not told of the magnitude of this error, just that she had made one. I was then instructed that I would not say anything at the press conference, and was actually surprised when I was asked questions by reporters.

The reason I offer this explanation is that, with the enormous amount of attention this has received over the weekend, many people are offering my statements at the press conference that the �numbers jibed� as validation they are correct and I can vouch for their accuracy. As I told Kathy when I was called into the room � I am 80 years old and I don�t understand anything about computers. I don�t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up. I am still very, very confused about why the canvass was finalized before I was informed of the Brookfield error and it wasn�t even until the press conference was happening that I learned it was this enormous mistake that could swing the whole election. I was never shown anything that would verify Kathy�s statement about the missing vote, and with how events unfolded and people citing me as an authority on this now, I feel like I must speak up.

[Joker]

Originally Posted by Joker
UPDATE: 10:54 p.m. -- Also at the press conference, Ramona Kitzinger, a Democratic member of the county board of canvass, agreed with Nickolaus and said they "went over everything and made sure that all the numbers jived up, and they did."

This does not jibe with what she says about it. Basically this 80 year old woman says she's not the person to be able to confirm whether it's all jived up.

Kathy didn�t offer an explanation about why she didn�t mention anything prior to Thursday afternoon�s canvass completion, but showed us different tapes where numbers seemed to add up, though I have no idea where the numbers were coming from.

I don�t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up.

What are you talking about? Take the blinders off, it most certainly does


Originally Posted by Joker
UPDATE: 10:54 p.m. -- Also at the press conference, Ramona Kitzinger, a Democratic member of the county board of canvass, agreed with Nickolaus and said they "went over everything and made sure that all the numbers jived up, and they did."

[Deadshow Dan]

Take your blinders off.

She issued the statement above, specifically because she was brought into that press conference with no real knowledge of what was going on. She is saying specifically here she can't vouch for accuracy and that she never was shown anything that could verify the missing votes.

Are you really that bias and unobjective?

I can't say what happened with the voted, but it's pretty clear this senior citizen was blindsided at the press conference. It makes it smell even fishier.

This is not the case of a Democratic canvasser examining things closely and confirming that it's all good.

The reason I offer this explanation is that, with the enormous amount of attention this has received over the weekend, many people are offering my statements at the press conference that the �numbers jibed� as validation they are correct and I can vouch for their accuracy. As I told Kathy when I was called into the room � I am 80 years old and I don�t understand anything about computers. I don�t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up. I am still very, very confused about why the canvass was finalized before I was informed of the Brookfield error and it wasn�t even until the press conference was happening that I learned it was this enormous mistake that could swing the whole election. I was never shown anything that would verify Kathy�s statement about the missing vote, and with how events unfolded and people citing me as an authority on this now, I feel like I must speak up.

[Joker]

Take your blinders off.

She issued the statement above, specifically because she was brought into that press conference with no real knowledge of what was going on. She is saying specifically here she can't vouch for accuracy and that she never was shown anything that could verify the missing votes.

Are you really that bias and unobjective?

I can't say what happened with the voted, but it's pretty clear this senior citizen was blindsided at the press conference. It makes it smell even fishier.

This is not the case of a Democratic canvasser examining things closely and confirming that it's all good.

It's not a question of if I'm that biased or unobjective but rather are YOU really this DISHONEST or are you just clueless.

No, she does not specifically state she can't vouch for the accuracy of the numbers in her statement (no matter how much you want to believe it)

In her statement that you posted, she clearly reiterates twice that the numbers seem to add up.

That she may not understand where those numbers came from doesn't change the fact that she believes the numbers seem to add up.


Hell you even bolded that fact yourself

I am 80 years old and I don�t understand anything about computers. I don�t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up.

[Deadshow Dan]

No one says the numbers don't add up.

The question at hand is whether Kathy Nickolaus made them add up by changing them, throwing the election to her former boss, or not.

[Joker]

So when you specifically quoted this statement which only mentions the numbers "jiving up"

UPDATE: 10:54 p.m. -- Also at the press conference, Ramona Kitzinger, a Democratic member of the county board of canvass, agreed with Nickolaus and said they "went over everything and made sure that all the numbers jived up, and they did."

and responded with an article that confirmed that she believes those numbers "jived up"


You really weren't talking about whether the numbers "jived up" at all


Amazing

[Deadshow Dan]

http://host.madison....1cc4c03286.html

State investigating vote irregularities in Waukesha County going back 5 years

State investigating vote irregularities in Waukesha County going back 5 years MARY SPICUZZA | mspicuzza@madison.com | 608-252-6122 madison.com | (109) Comments | Posted: Friday, April 15, 2011 5:10 am

• 
  

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus is at the center of a political fire over vote vote counts in the state Supreme Court race between David Prosser and Joanne Kloppenburg. MICHAEL SEARS – Associated Press


The state's investigation into vote irregularities in Waukesha County will stretch back at least five years, the head of the Government Accountability Board said Thursday.
Questions over vote totals in Waukesha have lingered over the past week after County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced she failed to report more than 14,000 votes from the city of Brookfield in initial vote totals.
The new total gave incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a lead of about 7,000 votes over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg in the hotly contested state Supreme Court race. Official results in that race have not yet been announced.
Now questions have emerged over Nickolaus' published vote counts from as far back as the fall of 2006, when there were key statewide elections including races for governor and attorney general.
"This is part of what we're looking into. We have a lot of complaints," said Kevin Kennedy, the director and general counsel for GAB. "It's part of our investigation."
Kennedy said the board's current priority is determining the integrity of numbers reported in this spring's election but added investigators are reviewing broader questions about Nickolaus and vote counting.
GAB staff members have been in Waukesha County much of the week, and they were there again Thursday, staff attorney Mike Haas said.
‘Hand-entered results'
Additional questions surfaced after bloggers raised questions and Nickolaus posted a note to the clerk's website this week explaining discrepancies between the total ballots cast in several elections and the votes for particular offices.
In many cases, the number of votes totaled more than the number of ballots cast.
The results for the 2006 attorney general's race, for example, show 174,047 votes for either Democrat Kathleen Falk, Republican J.B. Van Hollen or write-in candidates, a total that is 17,243 votes higher than the total ballots cast recorded elsewhere in the results.
In her note, Nickolaus said the reference to ballots cast "is the number of ballots that were fed through the election machines at the polling places and the results were collected using a modem in the office" but does not include "any hand-entered results."
It was unclear what Nickolaus meant by "hand-entered results," and she was unavailable for comment Wednesday and Thursday.
Democrats seek answers
Calls for investigations into Waukesha County's vote count controversy have grown. Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a letter to Kennedy on Wednesday that "these apparent repeated problems from the Waukesha County clerk undermine the public's confidence in elections."
Also Wednesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter urging joint Assembly-Senate hearings to investigate the results and conduct of election officials in Waukesha County. Others, including U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the matter.
Haas said investigators have spoken with Nickolaus and want to make sure "we understand her explanation."