AP: Supreme Court recount cost $520,491

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - An Associated Press survey has found Wisconsin counties spent more than half-a-million dollars on the state Supreme Court recount.

Challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg requested the recount after tallies showed Justice David Prosser defeated her by about 7,000 votes. The recount confirmed Prosser's victory by essentially the same margin.

The AP contacted clerks in all 72 counties. Seventy of them reported they spent a total of $520,491. Racine and Adams counties did not have any cost estimates.

The biggest spender was Waukesha County at $129,000. More than a third of that went to pay a retired judge who oversaw the recount after county clerk Kathy Nickolaus recused herself from the proceedings.

Nickolaus was criticized after she initially failed to report about 14,000 votes, which flipped the race in Prosser's favor.