Recall Recount Day 7: Wanggaard Net Gain Moves Up to 20

Democrat John Lehman's lead over Republican Van Wanggaard remained sizable at the end the seventh day of the recount in the 21st state Senate District recall election.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, just more than 50,000 votes had been counted and Wanggaard campaign representatives said their candidate had picked up net gain of 20 votes, bringing Lehman's lead down from 834 to 814.

Workers were finished with the suburbs of Racine and were focused on city wards, eight of which were completed. Deputy clerks said another two or three could finish before Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen declared the day closed.

and Wanggaard asked for a recount on June 15, and the process started on June 20. According to state statute, the recount must complete within 10 days, but because the 10th day for this recount lands on a Sunday, Christensen has until Monday to finish. An extension can only be granted after petitioning the circuit court.

With about 73,000 votes to count, Christensen will probably finish the recount by Monday, but that could depend on how quickly tabulators can match same day registrations to entries with signatures in the wards' poll books. On Monday, but most were found elsewhere still in the same poll book.

Wanggaard campaign spokesperson Justin Phillips and Attorney Jonathan Strasburg both expressed some frustration with how long it's taking to go through the poll books.

"It should really only take about an hour to reconcile a poll book," Strasburg said. "But it's really a mess in some wards."

Phillips said in one city ward, some pages were actually missing from the city's copy of the book but were present in the county's copy of the book so the votes counted, but he stopped short of saying they suspect fraud.

"I'm not saying this is sending up a red flag for fraud, but it's certainly proof of horrible management," he said.

Randy Nash, a representative for the Democratic Party, said the ward in question was reconciled so anything being claimed by the Republicans is off base.

"I've been involved in a lot of recounts, and this one is proceeding very similarly to others I've been part of," he said. "This one is actually going faster then the recount from just in April between Mark Nielsen and Timothy Boyle and half the votes. The other side just complains non-stop in an effort to delay."

Phillips thinks what's happening in the City of Racine might have been avoided if the state's Voter ID Law was in place. Strasburg said it also calls into question the training poll workers received in the days leading up to the election.

"I'm disturbed because clerks need to get their stuff together before November. Wisconsin is a battleground state," he noted. "We do not want Wisconsin to be the next Florida."

As for whether or not there will any court filings, Stasburg confirmed he's just waiting to see how the recount plays out.

Nash, on the other hand, said no reasonable lawyer would ever take the recount to court. He also said Wanggaard should be ashamed for wasting the taxpayers' money.

"Former Sen. Wanggaard should be embarrassed by this waste of the taxpayers' money," he said. "It's terrible."

As Patch was leaving the recount, Ward 34's poll books were off by one ballot; meaning there was one more ballot than numbers so one ballot was chosen at random for removal. Christensen sealed it in a special plastic bag and affixed the appropriate reason and signatures.