Van Hollen-Chisholm Election Integrity Task Force Must Investigate Largest Potential Election Fraud Case in Wisconsin History

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Election Integrity Task Force, headed by Attorney General JB Van Hollen and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, must lead an immediate and complete full investigation of the allegations of election fraud surrounding Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus and her adding of 14,000 votes days after the polls closed on the April 5 election, giving Nickolaus’ former boss, David Prosser, a 7,500-vote net-gain in the county.

“JB Van Hollen and his allies have spent untold tax dollars to investigate what turned out to be as few as 30 or so improperly-cast votes out of six million in 2004 and 2008,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “Wisconsin is facing the largest potential election fraud case perpetrated in the history of this state and law enforcement must act immediately.”

Following the 2004 presidential elections, Steve Biskupic, the U.S. Attorney under George W. Bush, conducted a full investigation which showed no widespread voter irregularity. Likewise, Van Hollen investigated after 2008, a two-year, taxpayer-financed endeavor that produced less than 20 potentially-improper votes cast. A total of six million votes were cast in Wisconsin in the 2004 and 2008 elections.

Yesterday, Nickolaus announced 14,000 new votes were allegedly uncounted in Tuesday’s election for state Supreme Court. Nickolaus, who has been repeatedly criticized for the secretive manner in which she maintains and releases voter data and results, said she simply made a mistake. The record suggests her excuse is implausible considering:

• Nickolaus dismissed an independent audit commissioned over concerns there are massive security threats in her current system. Nickolaus, who maintains a secret system for keeping public voting data, condescendingly laughed off the audit, drawing an irate reaction from the Waukesha County Board chair.
• Nickolaus was one of two database experts for Assembly Republicans, spending 13 years becoming one of the state’s leading partisan experts on manipulating voter data.
• Nickolaus was in charge of developing a computer program that “averaged the performance of Republicans in all statewide races for the previous eight years in each ward and then averaged that information for each city, township, county and district,” making her claim of human error even more ridiculous.

“From top to bottom, Kathy Nickolaus’ story is utterly implausible and an affront to clean and fair elections in Wisconsin,” said Ross. “Law enforcement must fully investigate, immediately seize her equipment and pursue as though a crime might have occurred — in exactly the same way Van Hollen pursued and prosecuted people he felt improperly voted in 2008.”