What’s wrong with Wisconsin?

Nickolaus informed us that our request was “overly burdensome.” This is the same excuse she offered the Wisconsin WAVE, a group also attempting to count the recall election votes. Nickolaus lectured us like a disapproving school marm, “I don’t believe the public records law should be utilized for the purpose of allowing citizens to view every ballot or conduct hand recount of an election, especially one in which there was such a large quantity of votes cast.”

Really?

In Nickolaus’ perspective, if it is a minor election with a low voter turnout, perhaps people should be allowed to inspect public records. But in a major election with national importance like the Walker recall, her views, and more importantly, her actions are geared toward making sure citizens are kept from counting ballots.

Nickolaus informed us of “my no-touch requirement.” While states like Ohio allowed citizens to count ballots in the presence of election workers following the notorious 2004 presidential election, Nickolaus had another plan. She would copy all 213,332 ballots at 25 cents a page, charging us more than $53,000. Moreover, Nickolaus wrote, “you will be required to pre-pay the cost of reproduction of records….” Ever the dictator, Nickolaus warned us, “I note that you are in Ohio. Please do not travel to Wisconsin and show up at my office with a team of inspectors that consists of more than four people.”

Indeed, if an inspection team of more than four showed up, they would likely find out that Walker’s numbers were rigged. This is what happened in Florida following the 2004 election when a media consortium hand-counted all the ballots in the state and determined that Gore had won.
http://freepress.org/columns/display/3/2012/1940