MADISON, Wis, April 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of uncounted votes have been uncovered in a closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election, officials said on Thursday in a move that tilted the contest to the Republican incumbent.
The apparent error, found by a Waukesha County official in a final review of records, gave Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a net additional 7,582 votes in his statewide race against union-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.
Prosser had trailed Kloppenburg by 204 votes, according to unofficial results on Wednesday.
Waukesha County is a Republican stronghold.
News of the uncounted votes came as officials throughout Wisconsin were conducting county canvasses, a final review of voting records that allows the state to certify this week's bitterly contested vote.
The Supreme Court contest was widely seen as a referendum on Republican Governor Scott Walker and the controversial curbs on collective bargaining that he and his allies passed in the legislature.
Opponents had portrayed Prosser, a former member of the state assembly, as a proxy for Walker and the anti-union policies that triggered massive protests and 16 recall campaigns targeting lawmakers.
Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha County clerk, apologized for the uncounted votes and blamed "human error." She said at a news conference that she had failed to properly save a spreadsheet showing one town's voting results.
"I'm thankful that this error was caught early in the process and during the canvass," Nickolaus said. "The purpose of the canvass is to catch these kinds of errors."
A statewide recount could begin next week. If it happens, it will be the first such recount in Wisconsin in more than 20 years.
To help officials prepare, the state's Government Accountability Board sent out a memo stressing that local officials needed to "maintain all memory device and programming for the April 5, 2011 Spring Election in its original form."
"We are in unprecedented times in many respects," the memo read, "but particularly with regard to a potential statewide recount, which has not occurred since 1989 ... A thorough completion of the County Board of Canvass at this time may reconcile inconsistencies and issues that will likely save you time and effort in the pending recount process."
(Reporting by Jeff Mayers and James B. Kelleher; Editing by Tim Gaynor, Ellen Wulfhorst and Paul Simao)
The apparent error, found by a Waukesha County official in a final review of records, gave Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a net additional 7,582 votes in his statewide race against union-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.
Prosser had trailed Kloppenburg by 204 votes, according to unofficial results on Wednesday.
Waukesha County is a Republican stronghold.
News of the uncounted votes came as officials throughout Wisconsin were conducting county canvasses, a final review of voting records that allows the state to certify this week's bitterly contested vote.
The Supreme Court contest was widely seen as a referendum on Republican Governor Scott Walker and the controversial curbs on collective bargaining that he and his allies passed in the legislature.
Opponents had portrayed Prosser, a former member of the state assembly, as a proxy for Walker and the anti-union policies that triggered massive protests and 16 recall campaigns targeting lawmakers.
Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha County clerk, apologized for the uncounted votes and blamed "human error." She said at a news conference that she had failed to properly save a spreadsheet showing one town's voting results.
"I'm thankful that this error was caught early in the process and during the canvass," Nickolaus said. "The purpose of the canvass is to catch these kinds of errors."
A statewide recount could begin next week. If it happens, it will be the first such recount in Wisconsin in more than 20 years.
To help officials prepare, the state's Government Accountability Board sent out a memo stressing that local officials needed to "maintain all memory device and programming for the April 5, 2011 Spring Election in its original form."
"We are in unprecedented times in many respects," the memo read, "but particularly with regard to a potential statewide recount, which has not occurred since 1989 ... A thorough completion of the County Board of Canvass at this time may reconcile inconsistencies and issues that will likely save you time and effort in the pending recount process."
(Reporting by Jeff Mayers and James B. Kelleher; Editing by Tim Gaynor, Ellen Wulfhorst and Paul Simao)
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