The plot thickens for Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha, Wisconsin county clerk who used her own home-brewed voting software to miraculously discover 14,000 votes for her former boss, Tea Party-favored Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. Yes, former boss — Nickolaus worked under Prosser at the disgraced Assembly Republican Caucus, who were exposed while illegally conducting secret campaigns for Republican legislative candidates. What’s more, Nickolaus is something of an old hand when it comes to voting irregularities:
In 2006, Nickolaus, who was elected Waukesha County clerk in 2002, was criticized for posting election returns that temporarily skewed results of a Republican primary for the 97th Assembly District. At the time, Nickolaus told reporters some returns from the city of Waukesha were entered in the wrong column.
And last summer, the Waukesha County Board ordered an internal audit of her office, citing concerns Nickolaus was secretive and refusing to cooperate with the county’s technical staff in a security review of the computerized election system.
Some officials also were critical of Nickolaus’ decision to stop posting municipal results to save time. Auditors who looked at the Waukesha County system found 26 of 62 counties surveyed also did not post local results — a step that might have revealed the missing Brookfield numbers.
Waukesha County clerk has drawn criticisms in the past