City Clerks Empathetic, but Vigilant

While the attention is focused on the Waukesha County Clerk, Kathy Nikolaus, who apparently did not save a file containing the votes from the city of Brookfield to the final county tally, the Muskego Clerk's office is taking the opportunity to practice caution.

With a special election looming in less than four weeks, Deputy Clerk Jill Blenski said "it serves as a reminder to us how careful we need to be.  We receive the ballots shortly after the polls close, and we're often under pressure to post those totals as soon as possible."

Blenski said Muskego also keeps the absentee ballots at City Hall, and those are added using an Insight machine, which is similar to the machines seen at the polls, and those are also tallied once the polling stations' ballots have arrived back at the Clerk's office.

Muskego sends their totals via email to the Waukesha County Clerk's office, then follows up with a phone call to confirm that the numbers were sent.  Blenski said that human error is always a concern, especially when dealing with spreadsheets, and she echoed the statements made by election officials that the votes posted on election night are unofficial for that reason.

"The canvass is always done for this reason, and while we can't speak to what is done on the County level, an incident like this makes everyone more careful," Blenski said.