Waukesha County and the state of Florida have a number of things in common. They are both considered Republican-leaning. They both have at least one airport. But most importantly, they have issues with counting. What was supposed to be a hard-fought underdog story of striking back at Gov. Scott Walker is turning into a clusterfuck deserving of more than a little face-palming. But really, good people, would you have it any other way?

Last night, JoAnne Kloppenburg supporters went to bed confident in a slim margin of victory. They turned out the voters, stuck it to David Prosser and his BFF Walker, and showed those wily Republicans in the Legislature that Wisconsin – or at least roughly half of its 1.5 million voters – has had enough of their tomfoolery. Mandate, Gov. Walker? Bah! How do you like these apples?

Almost immediately, conservative bloggers, legislators and the trolls of various comment boards took it upon themselves to note that with only one-hundredth of a percent separating the candidates, this great democratic achievement was in fact far from that. I’ll give them that, but until this whole thing shakes out, it’s worth noting how incredibly close this race was compared to previous years.

Since 2000, there have been eight elections for the state Supreme Court not including this most recent. Two were uncontested, another two were held after the sitting justice declared their non-candidacy. So that leaves four, still with me? In only one of the four was the incumbent ousted, 2008’s race between Michael Gableman and then-Justice Louis Butler. That race set the standard for sleaze as Gableman came out ahead in the end.

That margin was the second lowest in the last decade at around 22,000 votes. Third party spending in that race amounted to almost $2 million, perhaps explaining the significant jump in the margins for the other races, with the next highest being just over 110,000 in the 2009 election. This race was no blip on the radar. Despite my own skepticism of voting for the high court based on a candidate’s alleged friendliness toward our governor, this election was absolutely a message to those at the opposite end of State Street.

But back to Waukesha. As I write this, Prosser has just picked up 7500 votes in said county due to “human error.” Apparently County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus forgot to hit save for the results from the city of Brookfield. L-O-fucking-L, Kathy. But seriously, Kathy, that’s fine, sometimes people make mistakes. We’re only human, right? Well, some humans make mistakes, and others spend seven years working as a computer analyst for the Assembly Republican Caucus. No one’s perfect, right?

Nickolaus was the subject of audit recommendations in August of last year concerning data security and backup procedures. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nickolaus removed the tallying system and election results collection from county computers in favor of loading them onto personal computers within her office. Earlier this year, Nickolaus was again under the microscope for her failure to take up the recommendations. Keep up the good work, Kathy.

But the most recent mistake truly could have been just that: a mistake. Poor management and organization aside, she has apparently fixed the problem. But rest assured, the Supreme Court saga is far from over.

As you read this, all 72 Wisconsin counties are canvassing ballots before turning them over to the state. If you know nothing about the recount process, you surely will in the next few weeks. If you liked the Florida recount in 2000, you’ll love the one in Wisconsin in 2011.
Jake Begun ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism