Dems Feel Left Out of County Election Equipment Discussion

A state Democratic party official is asking the Waukesha County Chairman to explain why he consulted with the GOP County Clerk candidate, but not the Democrat, when proposing to purchase new election equipment.

JSOnline.com reported that County Chairman Dan Vrakas had included a $70,000 capital expenditure in the 2013 budget after discussing it with Kathleen Novack, the Republican nominee for county clerk, according to Vrakas chief of staff Shawn Lundie.

Democrat Jessie Read, her opponent in the November general election, was not similarly contacted, however, JSOnline.com reported.

A letter sent to Lundie from Jeff Christensen, Decmocratic chairman of Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District, explained that he was "strongly disappointed" that Read was not contacted by Vrakas as well.

"Now it was my deepest hope is that this was a simple oversight by the County Executive’s office and that if Ms. Read contacted the office, this same courtesy would be offered to her.  After discussing this matter with Ms. Read, I was greatly disappointed that despite her reaching out to you personally, the same offer was not afforded to her," the letter stated.

Christensen also asked Lundie to provide some justification why Read was not contacted by Vrakas.

Lundie did not immediately respond to a request for comment left via voice mail Wednesday afternoon.

The $70,000 would pay for a consultant and would be part of the 2013-'17 capital plan Vrakas submitted to the County Board on Friday.

Waukesha County has been beset by election snafus, in part because of vote recording equipment that can no longer automatically transmit results to the county clerk's reporting software by modem, JSOnline.com reported.

The first year of the capital plan will be included in Vrakas' proposed 2013 county budget, to be submitted to the County Board for review in late September and adoption in November.