Waukesha Vote Counts to go Directly to State, bypassing Kathy Nickolaus?

Brad Blog just posted this interesting news out of Waukesha County:

Nickolaus' decision to temporarily hand over her duties to Waukesha's Deputy Clerk Kelly Yaeger for the two recall elections was prompted after calls for her resignation … Shortly after the latest mess, during an interview while we were guest hosting the Mike Malloy Show on April 6th, election integrity expert John Washburn of Wisconsin Fair Elections explained to us that Yaeger had been both hired and trained by Nickolaus herself.

Doh! Missed that one. So now there’s this report:

As reported by Sarah Millard of the Brookfield Patch ... It looks like the office of embattled Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus won't be able to bungle the counting of votes … That's because Waukesha County is now requiring municipalities with the capability to do so to submit the results directly to the state instead of first reporting them to the county. Votes will be entered directly into the state system by the municipal clerks, which eliminates the need for clerks or election workers to come to the county clerk’s office on election night. After the results are entered into the state system, clerks will sign a report and fax it to the county clerk’s office, according to an email sent by Deputy County Clerk Kelly Yaeger to area clerks. The county will still post unofficial results with the GAB, canvass the votes and perform all other duties under state law.

So we can rest easy now?

Curiously, Millard's article ends by noting that "A spokesman for the GAB said Friday evening that he was unaware of the changes."

Republican Party of "Election and voting Integrity," plan Walker write in for Democratic Primary.

I'm posting this patch story for one reason; a reference point and example of just how morally, politically and ideologically bankrupt these conservative thugs can be. Their supposed ethical high ground is somewhere on the bottom of someones shoe. 

The more write in votes Walker gets in the Democratic primary, if there is one, the more sick we can assume the party has become. I wonder if they think this is how a civilized democratic representative government by the people is run?

Oak Creek Patch: In the “Wild West” political territory that is the Wisconsin recall elections, it seems anything goes … some supporters of Gov. Scott Walker have come up with a new plan … Walker supporters are encouraging voters across the state to write in the governor as a candidate in the Democratic primary — if the recall election moves forward.

It started as a conversation on Facebook, but less than a week ago the page Operation: Write in Scott Walker in Democrat Primary popped up on the social media goliath, giving the movement an established spot on the web … In just more than a week, 772 people have given the page a “like,” and are spreading it around their social circles.

The Government Accountability Board isn't providing a clear answer either.

“I go from one side of the state to the next during my work day, and I’ve heard people talking about it from Racine to Eau Claire,” said John Willock, who is a volunteer with Friends of Scott Walker and a fan of the write-in page.

Organizer Noelle Lorraine, who is also a Patch blogger, “The write-in campaign is being passed on by every Tea Party member and GOP member on Facebook.” Democrats not worried about effort
Perhaps Dirty Harry’s iconic catch phrase, “Go ahead, make my day,” is the best phrase to capture the mood.  Wisconsin Democratic Party Spokesman Graeme Zielinksi said “Republicans seem frightened by democracy and the will of the people and, given what Scott Walker has done to ruin Wisconsin, they should be.”

The party of election and voting integrity also ran fake Democrats in the senate recall primaries:
During the 8th Senate District recall, Republican activist Gladys Huber ran in the primary. She was one of several "fake Democrats" who ran in the Democratic primaries across the state. None was successful. 

Election Fraud Preventable, Sen. Grothman doesn't care.

We've seen election fraud, where businesses get employees to contribute to a candidate for them, and that's illegal. But instead of being outraged and over reacting like they did with voter ID, Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman wants to make sure it can happen again. 

GBPressGazette: A legislative committee will take up a bill today that would roll back transparency for those contributing to political campaigns. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Glenn Grothman, would do away with a provision in state election law that requires those who donate more than $100 during a calendar year to reveal their employer. The disclosure law is meant to prevent business owners from secretly donating money to campaigns through their employees. 

We found that to be true a number of times in the past.

Officials have used such campaign reports to build cases against violators, such as William Gardner, the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad CEO who pleaded guilty last April to funneling $62,800 in illegal campaign contributions to Gov. Scott Walker's campaigns.

Seems like a big problem to me...

But ... those same reports were sometimes used to protest or boycott businesses that supported Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans. "To restore civility and help our business climate, we have to leave businesses off these reports," Grothman said ... the "mean public unions don't care about business, they only care about creating friction." Grothman said he had only "anecdotal" evidence of this being a problem. 

Grothman's fictional problem would actually encourage big business be as inventive as Wisconsin & Southern Railroad was. 

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said Grothman's bill would be a big step back for the state. McCabe's organization tracks money in politics and uses the campaign reports to give a fuller view of the forces behind politicians. "It would be a dagger to the heart of our disclosure laws," he said.

And it looks like the recall elections coming up will be putting a little pressure on Republicans to temper their radical motivation. 

Should the bill make it out of the transportation and elections committee, it would have a tough time getting approval in the state Senate. Republicans hold a slim 17-16 majority in the Senate, and four of them have been targeted for recall.

Radical Fringe Group Wisconsin Right to Life may have offered incentives to "bolster support" in summer recalls

UPDATE Tues. 11:50 am: It looks like Wisconsin Right to Life didn't get many takers for their gift card:

jsonline-Dan Bice: Milwaukee County prosecutors have cleared two groups - a conservative one opposing abortion rights and a liberal labor organization - of voter bribery charges after conducting a four-month John Doe probe into the allegations. "There's no prosecutive merit to these allegations," Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf said today. "In respect to both parties, they were acting in good faith."

Wisconsin Right to Life (and Wisconsin Family Action Coalition) had been accused of offering rewards for volunteers who signed up sympathetic voters in state Senate recall races. The investigation found that no one actually ended up requesting or receiving the gift or gas cards being offered. Right to Life offered "rewards for volunteers who make an impact … by educating and encouraging family and friends to vote by absentee ballot." Those who signed up 15 "pro-life/pro-family voters" by July 5 would get a $25 gift or gas card as a reward. The person signing up the most people in each Senate district would win a $75 gift or gas card. The program was coordinated with a second group.

Also cleared was Wisconsin Jobs Now!, a coalition of community and labor groups led by the Service Employees International Union. It had held parties on Milwaukee's northwest side in which it offered voters free food, raffles and free shuttles to Milwaukee City Hall so they could cast absentee ballots in a recall election … dubbed "BBQ for votes" by conservative groups, including Media Trackers … But Media Trackers' source - Collin Roth, one of its own staffers - testified in the John Doe that he was never told that he had to vote in order to get a ticket for free food. But Media Trackers' press releases and stories … carried the headline: "Source Reports Wisconsin Jobs Now! Engages in Illegal Election Behavior." But that's not what Roth said in his John Doe testimony.

"Did anyone tell you that in order to get a ticket for food you had to sign up to vote?" Landgraf asked, according to his John Doe filing.

Roth responded, "No, not explicitly, no."

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We hear a lot about how Democrats supposedly paying people to go out and vote. Not a lot of convictions. It’s really conservative projection. Those Democratic dirty tricks were already in the Republican play book, or at least on the to-do list. 

So low and behold, the far right wing fringe group Wisconsin Right to Life is looking at possible election fraud:

TMJ4: The Milwaukee DA's office confirms a decision could come as soon as Tuesday morning about Wisconsin Right to Life, a conservative group accused of using incentives to bolster Republican support earlier this year. The group is accused of offering gift cards to volunteers in order to get out the vote for the July recalls.

Marquette Political Science Professor John McAdams isn't sure 'right to life' violated any laws, equating the actions to a 'get out the vote' drive. "This is slightly different, in that, it was paying people to cast absentee ballots, but not paying the voters to cast absentee ballots."

Huh? Of course, no story is complete if you don’t bring up “both sides do it.”

After Democrats faced similar claims and investigations for giving free food and shuttles to drop off ballots…

Not guilty! But thanks for the diversion tactic.   

Republican Recall Dirty Tricks: Lawsuit over new districts, run fake Democrats again, and intimidate petitioners.

I wonder how recall voters will react in the voting booth when they have to choose between actual government policy, or fake Democrats wasting taxpayer money?

AP: Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he hasn't ruled out running fake Democrats again in recall elections targeting GOP incumbents in order to give them more time to campaign.

The Democratic Party says it will file paperwork on Tuesday to recall Republican Sens. Van Wanggaard of Racine, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Pam Galloway of Wausau. Fitzgerald will also be targeted for recall. 

But the dirty tricks won’t stop there. If Wisconsinites are so supportive of Walker’s austerity plan, then why intimidate recall petitioners, threaten to shred their own deceptively gathered petitions, and move to overrule the GAB? But that’s not all.

Fitzgerald says he also expects a lawsuit to be filed over whether old district boundaries or new ones should be in effect for recalls.

Looks like the Fitzgerald’s gerrymandering took place, not for population changes, but for pure political advantage to maintain one party rule despite voter sentiment. 

Election Fraud, fake candidates by the Tea Party and Republicans disenfranchise Voters and Destroys Confidence in Elections.

Big surprise: Arizona's most powerful Republican ran a phony opposition party candidate to split and dilute a fellow Republicans vote count and chances.

These are the guy who sold you “voter fraud,” a nonexistent scare tactic conservatives worry would take away their vote.  Elections are a joke, a game of deceit for Republican to play and unfairly win at.

NYT: The leader of Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigration facing off at the polls with an immigrant from Mexico who believed that the state had gone too far. But the immigrant, Olivia Cortes, a retiree who challenged the State Senate president, Russell Pearce, disappeared from the political scene last week just as quickly as she had appeared. Ms. Cortes’s candidacy, it now appears, had been a dirty trick. Critics of Mr. Pearce’s hard-line approach to illegal immigration collected enough signatures to force him into a recall election in November. But allies of Mr. Pearce, who is one of the state’s most powerful politicians, did not take that humiliation lightly. They recruited Ms. Cortes in what was an effort to split the anti-Pearce vote, particularly among Latinos, a judge later found.

Greg Western, a Pearce ally who is the chairman of the East Valley Tea Party, was a central figure in the scheme and became Ms. Cortes’s campaign adviser. Ms. Cortes avoided the news media for weeks, and the few interviews she did give showed her to be shaky on the issues. Her candidacy began falling apart after another candidate, Jerry Lewis, who like Mr. Pearce is a Republican, began his own campaign. Allies of Mr. Lewis’s went to court to challenge Ms. Cortes’s election bid as a sham.

The judge, Edward O. Burke of Superior Court of Maricopa County (said) “The court finds that Pearce supporters recruited Cortes, a political neophyte, to run in the recall election to siphon Hispanic votes from Lewis to advance Pearce’s recall election bid,” the judge said in his ruling.

The Republican Party, along with its ally in scams, the corruptible tea party, are a wonderful pair in undermining democracy. It didn’t take long for the tea party to go completely off the tracks. 

Colbert Strikes Back: Americans for Prosperity brunt of jokes over Absentee Ballot Mistakes.

If you're a comedian, how could you not take a shot at the most blatant form of election fraud imaginable.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
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Waukesha County Clerk Nicholaus under investigation for misconduct.

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nicholaus is under investigation for misconduct in office, finally. Despite past criticisms over security concerns, which she ignored, her rugged conservative individualism and fight against "the man" (government rules/laws) is getting the legal scrutiny it should have gotten years ago. 

jsonline: A former Dane County deputy district attorney who is now a criminal defense attorney has notified the JoAnne Kloppenburg campaign that he is investigating the campaign's April 20 complaint accusing Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus of misconduct in carrying out her election duties … attorney Tim Verhoff was following up on the complaint she filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.


The complaint against Nickolaus cites not only her election night misreporting, but also points to a history of "neglect, incompetence and/or malfeasance in carrying out her public duties."

Among the examples included, was her response to a 2010 county audit that found some security issues in her operation. Employees in her office shared a single password on an election computer and she failed to adequately back up her data, the audit found. Her unwillingness to quickly change practices prompted criticism from the County Board's Executive Committee.

Wisconsin Right to Life Denies robocalls that suggest; Don't go to vote, send an absentee ballot instead!

I've written about the militant right wing organization Wisconsin Right to Life before, and contrary to  their claims, they're strong advocates for conservative social engineering schemes that may someday include profitable adoption farms culling from unwanted pregnancies.

WRL is at it again, this time with possible election fraud. The BS about voter fraud is part of the plan; it's simply a misdirection play by Republicans to quietly allow conservative tampering with elections, which could have a more profound effect on the actual vote counts. As reported by WI Voices, Blue Cheddar and Forward Lookout:  

WI Voices-Heidi Herron: Robocall Election Fraud in District 10.....
Registered Democrats from all over the district are reporting the same thing. They are receiving a robocall from a group claiming to be a Right to Life group explaining that they don’t have to go to the polling station to vote, “You don’t need to worry. Your absentee ballot is in the mail.” If you receive this call from phone number 703-410-3201, or any other number with area code “703″ (Virginina) –RECORD it and report it. 

I called WRL and talked to "Lynn" about the issue, and was told the application for an absentee ballot related to the August general elections.  I asked about the company in Virginia sending out the robocalls, and was told they are in fact making calls, but are not telling people to stay home. Lynn accused a liberal blogger of making the story up. I asked about other voters reporting the same message, but again, it was a complete fabrication by the liberal blogger. I asked if they specifically addressed the "stay home" issue with the company making the robocalls, Lynn said they did, and were assured...blah, blah, blah.

The 703 Virginia number was not in service. That's odd. See their denial here.

Night of the Living Zombiecan!!!? Dems Say NO to fakes.

UPDATE: According to Democratic Party of Wisconsin's Mike Tate:

"The unprecedented Republican manipulation of these recall elections has compelled a number of people to urge a level playing field by running fake candidates in GOP primaries.

"We cannot and will not stoop to the Republicans' level by encouraging candidates to lie about their party affiliation, or recommending that people try to deceive voters. We never have done that, and won’t start now. This is something that every single one of our six challengers has said they adamantly oppose. Fred Clark, Jess King, Shelly Moore, Nancy Nusbaum, Jen Shilling and Sandy Pasch -- along with Senator Miller -- all contacted the party over the last 24 hours to make it crystal clear this was absolutely the wrong tactic.

Should we sit back and allow Republicans the chance to run fake Democrats in the primary, draining valuable campaign resources, or match them?

We Are Wisconsin and a few other groups want Zombiecans running against Republicans too. They should fight for their short life in the primaries as well. But there's really not much time...

We Are Wisconsin, a group that identifies itself as a network of organizations religious leaders, student groups, community groups, labor union members, today called for Dems to copy the tactic … to counter the GOP strategy of running "protest" candidates in Dem recall primaries, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said the party is keeping its options open.

"Our goal remains the same - to hold the elections that have been called for by tens of thousands of Wisconsinites, and to be free of the blatant and unprecedented Republican exploitation of the recall process," Tate said in a press release. "We will review the options available to ensure fair elections that allow the people to have their voice heard, and that aren't manipulated by this cynical Republican conspiracy to game the system for their partisan gain."

"This opinion is not rendered lightly," the group said in a statement. "This is the most cynical manipulation of the Wisconsin electoral process in our state’s history, and is being done by a Republican party that has demonstrated no respect for the rule of law and our state’s tradition of clean elections and good governance. Unfortunately, however, after evaluating the strategic implications of their despicable tactics, to simply stand idly by would amount to unilateral disarmament and would almost certainly thwart the will of the hundreds of thousands of voters who support recalling Republican Senators in the upcoming elections."

Candidates would face a difficult challenging in gathering the necessary signatures for candidacy in the recall elections of GOP senators. The deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m.

It's not the first time Republicans played this trick on the Democrats;

 

Defenders of Voter Fraud and Electoral Integrity, Republicans, back New “Protest Candidacy” Fraud-Fake Democrats!

If taxpayers are fightin’ mad about frivolous government spending, then they should really be angry with the Republican Party.

Republicans now oppose recall elections, a political tactic they fiercely pursued by creating professional recall organizations to serve the party nationwide. It caught on when they successfully used the economic collapse created by the energy industry in California to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

In the Republican campaign to stamp out voter fraud and restore confidence in the electoral process, spoiler candidate James Smith is about to commit a complete contradiction.

The Face of "Spoiler" Fake Democratic Recall Candidate

Republican Spoiler James Smith

 in doorway at home.

LaCrosseTribune: Republicans have found a spoiler candidate to challenge Rep. Jennifer Shilling in this summer's recall election, which would force a Democratic primary and extend the campaign by nearly a month.

James Smith, until recently a member of the La Crosse County GOP's executive committee, says he is running as a protest candidate. He said he does not plan on campaigning aggressively but wants to protest the recall process. "I want to bring light on the issue that 22,000 signatures can pretty much overturn an election where even the loser got 40,000 votes," he said Tuesday.

Smith apparently doesn’t think 22,000 angry citizens is enough to tell Republicans they’re not listening. 

Jobs First Coalition Mailer Lie tied to Brookfield Republican Alderman, and former convicted Rep. Scott Jensen. Brookfield again?

When you’ve got nothing else to say, lie.

LaCrosse Tribune: Democrats have requested a criminal investigation into the Milwaukee-area group behind mailings that claim 94th District Assembly candidate Steve Doyle paid his property taxes late. The mailings financed by the Jobs First Coalition repeatedly make the claim and include a doctored photograph of Doyle with "You pay on time, I don't" written on his palms. 

Doyle, who is also chairman of the La Crosse County Board, fired back with a press conference Thursday morning that offered two La Crosse County officials and the recently retired town of Onalaska clerk to vouch that he always paid his taxes on time. 

Attorneys for Maggie Brick, executive director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, filed a complaint Thursday afternoon that the mailings violate state law against false representations affecting elections "in an attempt to mislead the public to influence the upcoming 94th Assembly race." 

The Jobs First Coalition website lists a post office box address in Brookfield, Wis., but no telephone number for contact. The legal complaint lists the coalition's registered agent as Bob Reddin, a Brookfield city alderman. The Jobs First Coalition has been associated with Scott Jensen, the former Republican state Assembly speaker who left office in 2002 after being convicted of misconduct, later overturned in appeals court.

Conservative talk host Vicki McKenna called the Brookfield area the “conscience of Wisconsin.” 

State will Investigate Waukesha Votes Five Years Back as Well.

It looks like the Government Accountability Board is checking out past irregularities in Waukesha now. This from Brad Blog:

Guess what? As per our story published a few hours ago on the still-unexplained anomalies found in past Waukesha County, WI elections, it looks like the state's Government Accountability Board (the body which oversees elections in the state) can't understand County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' explanations for the anomalous 2006 results either, where some 20,000 more votes were tallied than "ballots cast", according to her own reports.

Check this out from the Wisconsin State Journal:

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. 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 … 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 2004, turn out was exceptionally high,

Apparently in 2004 the polls in Waukesha were teeming with voters as the Waukesha County Clerk's office showed a 97.63% turn out. No, that's not a typo. 97.63%

Prior to the Supreme Court race, Tea Party Republicans were setting up a STOLEN ELECTION.

This is old news now, but as you can see, the tea party and state Republicans were setting up what they would call the biggest election swindle ever.

Newsmax: The Tea Party Express.org website, meanwhile, accuses Big Labor of trying to “hijack the election” by pouring millions into the race. 

Those villainess “out-of-staters” Gov. Scott Walker and Scott Fitzgerald keep warning us about are now working for their side?

Levi Russell, a spokesman for Tea Party Express, says the organization has its members throughout the nation calling into voters in Wisconsin in a bid to sway the outcome. The organization also is airing TV ads throughout the state. 

Oh boy I hate those out of staters interfering with Wisconsin politics. Uhh…“Throughout the nation” tea party organizations were trying to “sway the outcome” of OUR Supreme Court race. By the way, those were “grass-roots” conservatives, again, from other states. But you would never hear anyone, even Newsmax, suggest "swinging the race"...uh oh....

Asked whether grass-roots conservatives could swing the race, Russell told Newsmax: “I don’t know. The anger and the vitriol on the left is very thick. They’re very serious and they have been galvanized in this effort for a lot longer than the right has been pushing back on it. So it makes me nervous."

Russell appears disappointed the Democrats did not go along peacefully with their agenda. To the tea party, anger and vitriol is only reserved for picked on conservatives.

After an Avanche of 19 Voter Fraud Charges since 2008, Voter ID, not Jobs is first on Republicans List.

Despite the known fact that election fraud is not problem, nor do we know whether those who have been charged are conservative or not, the state GOP's job creation plan includes passing voter ID.

While the public and media watch the phony "voter fraud" sideshow, the Republicans will continue to work behind the scenes to perfect ELECTION fraud, a much more difficult problem to investigate and is still under the radar for most Americans.

The way Democratic State Rep. Tamara Grigsby dismantles Rep. Jeff Stone's argument on the issue should be a lesson for other party members on how to deal with these lying political con men. She does not let up, while Stone calmly glosses over the actual facts.

Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-shay):

Related articles

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• Andrew C: Report Notes 'Sudden Silence' From Voter 'Fraud-Mongerers' Post-Election TPMMuckraker (tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com)
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