It’s two strikes and out for Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, whose latest Election Day pickle led County Executive Dan Vrakas to relieve her of her duties for the historic recall elections in May and June.
According to a statement released Thursday from the County Executive’s Office, Vrakas posed an ultimatum to Nickolaus in an effort to restore confidence in the upcoming election: Either resign as clerk or she designate her Election Day duties to the deputy clerk.
Nickolaus chose the latter.
“Kathy agreed to hand off her election duties to the deputy county clerk in order to avoid my public call for her resignation,” Vrakas said. “In stepping aside, Kathy also agreed to allow outside consultants and county staff to work side-by-side with the deputy clerk to help restore confidence in our election process.”
Vrakas stated that the county plans to move swiftly to examine the problems that arose during Tuesday’s election.
Patch contacted Vrakas’ office for more information, however, a call back was not immediately received. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Spokesman Grame Zielinski wasn't conviced the move will restore the integrity of the upcoming election.
“This is strange news and still offers no great assurances to the voters of Waukesha County that their votes will be properly counted,” Zielinksi said. “Her legacy of incompetence has made this so.”
Vrakas' announcement comes just two days after , when some election results weren't posted until 10 hours after the polls closed.
Nickolaus, who garnered national attention last April when her office made a mistake that , said she introduced new procedures Tuesday to follow guidelines set forth by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state.
As a result, some elections results were not posted on the county's website until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Nickolaus told Patch Wednesday she blamed the procedures set by the GAB for slowing down the vote counting.
“We felt that the process was very cumbersome,” she said. “We need to have a better process before May, and I’ll be contacting the GAB about that.”
This isn't the first problem in the Waukesha County Clerk's office.
After Nickolaus was criticized for not posting results online in last spring's state Supreme Court race, in which the entire City of on election night. in the razor-thin election from Kloppenburg, who had declared victory, to Prosser.
Had Nickolaus posted results online, someone would have caught the zeros for the City of Brookfield in the countywide total, some critics said.
Collect dues Fight against personal retirement accounts in favor of outdated and costly pensions Collect dues Fight to keep bad employees in place despite the damage they do to a company Collect dues Protect senior union members at the cost of newer ones Collect dues Slow down progress in the business world and Collect dues There is a reason jobs are shipped over to China, despite inferior workmanship and materials, and higher transportation expenses, it is more cost effective. Don't be claiming business owners don't work as hard for the money. First of all, they are taking the risk of hiring someone hoping that they will help generate a profit. Second, despite the many, many hours I work beyond 40, I know my employers work even more. And finally, they, however you want to define them, pay more than their share in taxes. The top 25% of wage earners pay 86% of the taxes in this country. Go back to Wall Street, crawl into your tent and think real hard. If you want money, go get a job that produces something that will benefit the United States and society.
I was disappointed there weren't any democrats shadowing because I wanted their cigarettes and BBQ for my vote.
Obviously, nothing is official until the votes are certified, but we expect better out of the County Clerk in such an important county as Waukesha. Why is it that she has such a hard time getting her act together? Throw in her previous political history, and we'll all be happier if she's not in charge of reporting what is sure to be some very close elections in June and November.