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kpete

(71,991 posts)
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 12:04 PM Jun 2012

Wisconsin elections board officially orders recount

Source: Rockford Register Star

MILWAUKEE — A recount request filed by state Sen. Van Wanggaard was approved Monday by Wisconsin election officials, who ordered Racine County officials to begin reviewing all of the nearly 72,000 ballots cast starting Wednesday.

Wanggaard requested a recount last week, three days after an official canvass showed him trailing Democratic challenger John Lehman by 834 votes. The margin represented 1.2 percent of the 71,868 ballots cast.

Democrats had called on the Republican incumbent to concede, saying a recount would only waste taxpayer money and delay the inevitable. But Wanggaard’s campaign said it was concerned about reports of voting
irregularities and wanted to ensure the outcome was accurate.

The result of the recount could be significant for several reasons.



Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/updates/x681118932/Wisconsin-elections-board-officially-orders-recount

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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jeff47

(26,549 posts)
3. No.
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 12:39 PM
Jun 2012

The state senate is not scheduled to be in session until next year. So they're not getting anything done anyway.

The Republicans care because it would be harder to win the seat in November if their candidate had been recalled - there isn't any sort of legal barrier, but presumably "was successfully recalled" is not something a candidate wants on their resume.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,328 posts)
4. Then let them do a re-count. They usually favor Dems anyway.
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 12:46 PM
Jun 2012

As long as they aren't trying to eat up his term al la Franken.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
5. The article says they are going to hand count ballots
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 12:46 PM
Jun 2012

But some places don't have ballots to recount, they only have top secret machines controlled by RepubliCONS and foreign corporations. How will they count those or does this district have no machines?

I suspect the fix was in but somehow the rigged election just didn't give the RepubliCON enough votes.

Too bad Dems don't have the guts to recount.

 

slackmaster

(60,567 posts)
6. Are there any truly paperless voting systems in use in Wisconsin?
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 12:51 PM
Jun 2012

I mean machines that record votes only electronically, without a paper audit tape?

valerief

(53,235 posts)
8. Paper, schmaper. Vote can be recorded one and displayed and printed another way.
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 01:02 PM
Jun 2012

And we know how impossible it is to reprint paper to fit your needs.

 

slackmaster

(60,567 posts)
9. Paper ballots can be forged quite easily, and people have been prosecuted for doing so
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 01:23 PM
Jun 2012

I guess no system that preserves voter anonymity could ever satisfy you.

BTW the electronic systems I've used allowed me to see the printed paper records of my votes.

 

Pab Sungenis

(9,612 posts)
11. What happens if the Democrat wins by significantly more votes on the recount?
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 01:58 PM
Jun 2012

Does that give us ground to call the other elections into question due to tampering?

 

Ghost of Huey Long

(322 posts)
12. Thanks for posting!
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 02:13 PM
Jun 2012

We really need a statewide hand recount, and someone independent watching the ballots until then.

postulater

(5,075 posts)
13. They will run the ballots through the tabulators just like the first time.
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 03:14 PM
Jun 2012

No one will look at an individual ballot to count them.

My village uses Insight scanners. The clerk told me that they are tested twice before the election. And that's it. After the voting, only the total count of ballots on the machine is expected to match the number of ballots given out. The assumption is that the marks were counted correctly because of the two prior audits.

hue

(4,949 posts)
14. Racine uses Eagle optical scanners distributed by Command Central
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 03:24 PM
Jun 2012

scroll down to view voting equipment by municipality. Racine is on pg. 121.
If we wanted a recount of the paper ballots that were fed into the scanners/counters a judge would have to order it I think.


Here is a link to a pic & description of Command Central: http://wcmcoop.com/members/meet-command-central-the-people-in-charge-of-wisconsin-voting-machines/


http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/voting-equipment/voting-equipment-use

n2doc

(47,953 posts)
17. Wonder if any 'misplaced' ballots will surface?
Tue Jun 19, 2012, 05:39 PM
Jun 2012

Like about 1,000, with a 900+ vote advantage for the R?

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