Kloppenburg asks for recount

MADISON - A recount is on the way in the race for State Supreme Court Justice.

Justice David Prosser and Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg have been in a heated battle for the seat.

Initial results after April 5th showed Kloppenburg ahead.

While Kloppenburg now trails Justice Prosser by more than 7,000 votes, she says a recount is the right thing to do.

“Wisconsin residents must have full confidence that these election results are legitimate and that this election was fair,” said Kloppenburg.

Because Prosser's lead is within one half of one percent, local governments will pay for the recount. Prosser’s spokesperson says a recount is unnecessary and released a statement saying "Apparently nothing will stop (Kloppenburg) from going ahead and wasting taxpayers hard-earned money to discover what election officials did on April 5th - that Justice David Prosser was reelected."

St. Norbert Political Science professor Charley Jacobs says winning the recount is a long shot for Kloppenburg.

“Very infrequently does a state wide election turn. And with the margin as large as it is, it's even more unlikely,” said Jacobs.

But in addition to a recount, Kloppenburg is also asking for a thorough investigation of Waukesha’s County Clerk, Kathy Nickolaus. Nickolaus failed to report 14,000 votes on election night, and later blamed it on human error. Once the votes were counted, Prosser took the lead.

Nickolaus was not available for comment, but the clerk's office says she has been and will continue to be cooperative with the Government Accountability Board.

The Board says it is prepared to do a recount. It plans to start the process this Monday.

Jacobs says the recount could cost about one million dollars and take about two weeks.