Big Advance for Prosser in Wisconsin Court Election UPDATE

As I think my spirited interlocutors have been saying spirited things about, it looks like someone in Wisconsin found a big heap of votes for Prosser in the Wisconsin Senate election. From ABC:

On Wednesday, liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general, had appeared to eke out an upset -- besting Prosser by 204 votes in an unofficial tally. But officials in heavily Republican Waukesha county now say they discovered a counting error that, when rectified, gives Prosser an additional 7,582 votes.

The Milwaukee paper has this this morning. 

Before the big adjustment, Waukesha County's vote total was just under 111,000. That is equal to 37.4% of the county's voting-age population of 296,081 people in the 2010 census.

After the big adjustment, Waukesha's vote total was roughly 125,000 votes. That is equal to 42.2% of the county's voting-age population.

By comparison, Ozaukee County's turnout was 44.1% of voting-age adults Tuesday, and Washington County's turnout was 40.9%.

Comments

[Jimi]

Ken,

"found a big heap of votes for Prosser"

This is an incorrect statement. The votes were not "found." The spreadsheet was entered into the database, after the election, but was not saved into the data base. In other words it was human error.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/david-prosser-wisconsin-supreme-court_n_846431.html

[Ken Blanchard]

Jimi: I was not suggesting otherwise. "Found" just means recovered here.

[Donald Pay]

This particular county clerk has a history of such "mistakes." Are these repeated "mistakes" the way this particular person hides serious criminal behavior involving election fraud? I think we will find out, as there are calls for federal investigations, as well as for recounts. She admits to keeping the election data in her personal computer, not the county system, and without the normal security used for election technology in this state. The stories she's been telling are inconsistent with how the program she used works, according to IT experts. She worked for Prosser in the past. There's a lot about this that smells.

[Stan Gibilisco]

By all means, investigate. I can't help but think that this turn of events suggests that neither party has a monopoly on, or total control over, election imperfection. It serves Murphy, and Murphy alone.

We also now realize (as if it should come as a surprise) that computers can't get rid of flaws in the election process. We are blessed, however, that we need no longer contend with hanging, pregnant, or dimpled chads.

Most comforting at all, to those who bow down at the alter of chaos, is the fact that we're all one rogue solar flare away from TEVU (The End of the Virtual Universe). Don't get nightmare deprivation, now, y'hear?

[Ken Blanchard]

Donald: it may be that there was some mischief here. Keep hoping! I know that Republicans would do the same. Right now it looks like Prosser won fair and square. Sorry.