Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus did not engage in criminal misconduct related to her election night performance last April.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The state Government Accountability Board said on Wednesday it found probable cause to believe that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus violated the state law requiring county clerks to post all returns on election night, but concluded that the violation in the April election was not willful and therefore did not constitute criminal misconduct.
Nickolaus became the focus of formal complaints and national attention after she failed to include city of Brookfield votes in her unofficial election night results in the April 5 Supreme Court race between incumbent Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general.
...The Government Accountability Board on Wednesday released the independent investigation report by former Dane County prosecutor Timothy Verhoff, as well as a GAB staff report and related documents.
Nickolaus was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. Her office said Nickolaus would issue a written statement in response to the GAB findings by the end of the day.
Included in the released documents was a letter from Government Accountability Board Chair Thomas H. Barland to Nickolaus that was critical of her actions and noted that she undermined public trust.
"Your failure to post election returns at the reporting unit level on Election Night led candidates for the office of Supreme Court Justice, Wisconsin voters and members of the media at the state and national level to believe the election for State Supreme Court Justice was within 200 votes when in fact unofficial returns would have shown a difference of more than 7,000 votes out of approximately 1.5 million votes cast," Barland wrote.
"This action has significantly undermined public confidence in the conduct of elections in Wisconsin and Waukesha County. As a result state and local election officials, and you in particular, will have to regain the trust of the Wisconsin electorate in the administration of elections in Wisconsin and Waukesha County," Barland states.
The board ordered Nickolaus to follow the law and have procedures in place by the Feb. 21 primary election and subsequent elections "to ensure accountability and transparency in your actions," according to the letter.
Democrats must be disappointed, but there's still hope.
Maybe someone will accuse Nickolaus of putting a political opponent in a chokehold.
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