Sauk County Recount of State Assembly District #47
(Township and Village of Merrimac)
from General Election held November 04, 2008
Date of Recount: Monday, November 17, 2008 @ 9:00 a.m.
Sauk County: @ Office of the Sauk County Clerk
505 Broadway, Room #144, Baraboo, Wisconsin 53913
Call to order: 9:00 a.m.
Verification of notification compliance: candidates notified, and public notice given, (copies shown of State of Wisconsin / Government Accountability Board Notice of Recount order for the Office of Representative from the 47th Assembly District; & Notice of Sauk County Board of Canvassers committee meeting).
Sauk County Canvass Board Members:
Patricia A. Van Oosten, Lead Deputy Sauk County Clerk
Rebecca C. Evert, Sauk County Canvasser
Gregory W. Sacra, Sauk County Canvasser, (replacement for Suzanne B. Dohner, absent due to a previous commitment).
Sauk County Personnel:
Beverly J. Mielke, Sauk County Clerk
Rebecca DeMars, Deputy Sauk County Clerk
Others Present, (the Board of Canvassers requested that one person be designated from each party as a spokesperson):
Representing Democratic Party 47th Assembly candidate Trish O'Neil:
John Schreiber
Darryl Teske
Randy Nash -designated spokesperson
Nate Williams
Representing Republican Party 47th Assembly candidate Keith Ripp:
Ryan Mahoney
Kate Mize -designated spokesperson
Citizen:
Paul Malischle
Township of Merrimac Administrator and Clerk-Treasurer:
Tim Mc Cumber
Office to be Recounted: State Assembly District #47, which constitutes the Township of Merrimac and the Village of Merrimac located in Sauk County, Wisconsin.
Final Results of Votes cast in Sauk County @ the General Election held on November 04, 2008 for the office of State Assembly District #47 were:
(Taken from Canvass Report, and verified by Sauk County Board of Canvassers):
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 380
Keith Ripp (REP): 407
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 47
Scattering: 1
Testing of Accu-Vote voting machine: Accu-Vote test completed successfully.
Re-Count Vote Totals For Each Municipality: OS AND TSXName of Municipality: TOWNSHIP OF MERRIMAC
Reporting Unit: TOWNSHIP OF MERRIMAC
Original Vote Totals for Township of Merrimac (from OS & TSX tapes run on election night by municipal clerk): Verified by Board of Canvass OS Accu-Vote: 422 ballots cast Trish O'Neil (DEM): 191 Keith Ripp (REP): 196 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 23 Scattering: 1 TSX: 185 ballots cast Trish O'Neil (DEM): 84 Keith Ripp (REP): 92 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 6 Scattering: 0 (Total from OS & TXS tapes run on election night) TOTAL ORIGINAL VOTES (OS & TSX) FOR TOWNSHIP OF MERRIMAC (from Final Sauk County Canvass report): Trish O'Neil (DEM): 275 Keith Ripp (REP): 288 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 29 Scattering: 0
-Number of Voters from Registration Lists verified: 607 (605 on poll list plus 2 voters not on poll list that Tim Mc Cumber, Township of Merrimac Administrator and Clerk-Treasurer verified did receive a ballot and voted, but were inadvertently not marked on poll list. One voter was Wendy Rebnolz, poll worker for the Township of Merrimac; and the name of the other voter was not known. Sauk County Board of Canvassers voted unanimously to change the poll list number to 607.)
Sauk County Board of Canvassers review absentee ballot applications list and absentee ballot certificate envelopes, and reconcile with absentee voter request list: -Number of Absentee Ballot Applications: 53 (Tim Mc Cumber, Township of Merrimac Administrator and Clerk-Treasurer, verified the number of applications was 89, as an additional 20 applications, for which requests were made to vote absentee for both the September 09, 2008 and November 04, 2008 elections, were filed with the September 09, 2008 election materials; and the remaining 16 applications are permanent requests to vote absentee, and are on file with the office the Township of Merrimac Clerk.) -Number of Absentee Ballot envelopes: 82 Randy Nash, representative for Democratic candidate Trish O'Neil, questioned illegible signatures on one of the Absentee Ballot envelopes. The Sauk County Board of Canvassers unanimously agreed to accept the absentee ballot envelope in question because, although the signatures were difficult to read, it was deemed that they were clearly two different signatures; and in addition, all other information on the envelope regarding name and address was clearly printed, so that both the voter and witness were clearly identified. Randy Nash, representative for Democratic candidate Trish O'Neil, objected to the counting of one of the Absentee Ballot envelopes on the basis of no voter signature. The Sauk County Board of Canvassers agreed unanimously to accept the Absentee Ballot envelope in question based on the legal opinion of Attorney Shane Falk, Staff Counsel for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB), that based upon Wisconsin Appellate decision, there was substantial compliance because the envelope in question did include all other information, which included printed name and address of voter, and printed name, address and signature of witness. -Rejected absentee ballot envelopes: 1 (Reviewed by the Sauk County Board of Canvassers, and was found to be completely blank.) -Provisional Ballot envelope: 0 -Late Arriving Military Ballot: 0 -Canvass Board members verify ballot bag is sealed and not tampered with, & that the seal number matches the number on the Inspectors' Statement (EB-104): Seal #91836 Seal #40347 was located inside the ballot bag, with a notation on the outside of the ballot bag that on November 06, 2008 Beverly J. Mielke, Sauk County Clerk, along with witness Tim McCumber, Township of Merrimac Administrator and Clerk-Treasurer, had opened said ballot bag. -Accu-Vote ballots: Probable absentee ballots are separated and verified that the number equals number of absentee ballot certificate envelopes. -Total number of Accu-Vote Ballots, including 82 absentee, counted by Sauk County Board of Canvassers: 421 -Each Accu-Vote was viewed by the Sauk County Board of Canvassers, and all parties present were given the opportunity to look at each ballot. Any ballots in which the mark made for a vote was in the form of an X, or use of a ball point pen or pencil were separated to be hand tallied. Three ballots were not initialed, however, it was determined by the Sauk County Board of Canvassers that Wisconsin State Statutes è 9.01(1)(b)r.d did not apply because the number of voters was greater than or equal to the number of ballots.
Accu-Vote ballots were run through Accu-Vote machine, and Accu-Vote ballots with and X, or use of a ball point pen or pencil were hand tabulated.
RECOUNT Vote Totals for Township of Merrimac:
OS Accu-Vote: 367 ballots cast, totals taken from OS tape Totals for ballots run through Accu-Vote machine, (12 ballots with no vote cast for the office of 47th Assembly District were forced through the Accu-Vote machine to be included with the number of ballots cast): Trish O'Neil (DEM): 164 Keith Ripp (REP): 175 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 16 Scattering: 0 No votes cast for the office of 47th Assembly: 12 Plus 53 Accu-Vote ballots tabulated by hand: Trish O'Neil (DEM): 26 Keith Ripp (REP): 21 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 6 Scattering 0 Total number of Accu-Vote ballots cast: 420 Trish O'Neil (DEM) 190 Keith Ripp (REP) 196 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 22 Scattering 0 RECOUNT Vote Totals for Township of Merrimac, TSX: Number of TSX ballots counted by Sauk County Board of Canvassers: 185 Votes for each TSX ballot were read and hand tabulated: Trish O'Neil (DEM): 83 Keith Ripp (REP): 93 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 6 Scattering: 0 No Vote cast for the office of 47th Assembly District: 3 Total number of TSX ballots cast: 185 TOTAL RECOUNT Votes for TOWNSHIP OF MERRIMAC, OS & TSX: Trish O'Neil (DEM): 273 Keith Ripp ( REP): 289 Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 28 Scattering: 0
Objections by Randy Nash, representing Democratic candidate Trish O'Neil:
1. Number of OS ballots cast, (420), does not match the number of ballots counted by the Board of Canvassers (421)
2. TSX votes hand tabulated were different from election night tape total for
candidates Trish O'Neil (DEM), 83 vs. 84; and Keith Ripp (REP) 93 vs. 92.
Following the advice of Attorney Shane Falk, Staff Counsel for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB), the Sauk County Board of Canvassers re-counted the TSX ballots by cutting the ballots apart, sorting, and then hand tabulated votes cast; and hand tabulated all of the OS ballots, with the following results:
TSX Ballots hand tabulated- 185 ballots counted
Trish O'Neil (DEM) 84
Keith Ripp (REP) 92
Hruby (IND) 6
Scattering 0
No vote cast for office of 47th Assembly 3
Total number of votes cast: 185
OS Ballots hand tabulated - 421 ballots counted
Trish O'Neil (DEM) 190
Keith Ripp (REP) 196
Hruby (IND) 23
Scattering 0
No vote cast for office of 47th Assembly: 12
Total number of votes cast: 421
TOTAL VOTES OF OS AND TSX VOTES CAST IN THE TOWNSHIP OF MERRIMAC
For the office of State Assembly District #47:
Trish O'Neil (DEM) 274
Keith Rip (RIP) 288
Hruby (IND) 29
Scattering 0
No votes cast 15
OS and TSX ballots were placed back in original ballot bag, and resealed with number 0491831. The reason for opening and resealing the ballot bag was written on the outside of the bag, and seal number was recorded on the Inspectors Statement.
@ 12:50 p.m., the Board of Canvassers recessed until 1:50 p.m.
Name of Municipality: VILLAGE OF MERRIMAC
Reporting Unit: VILLAGE OF MERRIMAC
Original Vote Totals for Village of Merrimac (from OS & TSX tapes run on election night by municipal clerk): Verified by Board of Canvass
OS Accu-Vote: 245 ballots cast
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 105
Keith Ripp (REP): 116
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 18
Scattering: 1
TSX: 3 ballots cast
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 0
Keith Ripp (REP): 3
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 0
Scattering: 0
TOTAL ORIGINAL VOTES (OS & TSX) FOR VILLAGE OF MERRIMAC
(from Final Sauk County Canvass report): Verified by Board of Canvass
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 105
Keith Ripp (REP): 119
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 18
Scattering: 1
-Number of Voters from Registration Lists verified: 248
Sauk County Board of Canvassers reviewed absentee ballot applications list and absentee ballot certificate envelopes, and reconciled with absentee voter request list:
-Number of Absentee Ballot Applications: 34
-Number of Absentee Ballot envelopes: 30
Objection by Randy Nash, representing Democratic 47th Assembly District candidate Trish O'Neil: That 6 of the absentee ballots should be rejected on the basis that:
4 envelopes had no signature for the voter
1 envelope did not have the date of election section filled in, and had no signature for
the voter
1 envelope did not have an address for the witness
The Sauk County Board of Canvassers unanimously agreed to accept all 6 Absentee Ballot envelopes based upon the opinion of Attorney Falk, as cited above:
The 4 envelopes that had no signature for the voter, did have all other information, constituting substantial compliance.
The 1 envelope that did not have the date of election section filled in, was postmarked October 23, 2008, making it reasonable to assume that the intent was to vote at the November 04, 2008 General Election; and this same envelope that had no signature for the voter, with the exception of the date of election, did have all other information that constituting substantial compliance.
The 1 envelope that did not have an address for the witness, did have all other information, constituting substantial compliance..
-Rejected absentee ballot envelopes: 0
-Provisional Ballot envelope: 0
-Late Arriving Military Ballot: 0
-Canvass Board members verify ballot bag is sealed and not tampered with, & that the seal number 40363 matched the number on the Inspectors' Statement (EB-104).
-Probable absentee ballots are separated and verified that the number equals number of absentee ballot certificate envelopes:
Total number of probable absentee ballots counted: 29
Total number of absentee ballot envelopes counted: 30
-Total number of Accu-Vote ballots, including 29 probable absentee, counted by Sauk County Board of Canvassers: 245
-2 ballots, with the exception of the 29 absentee ballots, only had 1 election official initial.
All parties were given opportunity to view ballots before placed in Accu-vote machine, and before hand tally of Accu-Vote ballots with an X mark, use of ball point pen or pencil.
-Accu-Vote ballots with an X mark, or use of ball point pen or pencil hand tallied: 27 ballots
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 7
Keith Ripp (REP): 20
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 0
Scattering 0
-All other Accu-Vote ballots were run through Accu-Vote, machine: 218 ballots cast
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 98
Keith Ripp (REP): 96
Dennis Hruby (IND) 18
Scattering 1
Number of ballots with no vote cast for the office of 47th Assembly District: 5
RECOUNT Vote Totals for Village of Merrimac, OS Accu-Vote hand tallied and machine count combined.: 245 ballots cast
(totals taken from tape)
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 105
Keith Ripp (REP): 116
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 18
Scattering: 1
Number of ballots with no vote cast for the office of 47th Assembly District: 5
RECOUNT Vote Totals for Village of Merrimac, TSX:
Number of TSX ballots counted by Sauk County Board of Canvassers: 3
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 0
Keith Ripp (REP): 3
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 0
Scattering: 0
Total number of ballots cast: 3
TOTAL RECOUNT Votes for VILLAGE OF MERRIMAC, OS & TSX:
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 105
Keith Ripp ( REP): 119
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 18
Scattering: 1
OS and TSX ballots were placed back in original ballot bag, and resealed with number 0491832. The reason for opening and resealing the ballot bag was written on the outside of the bag, and seal number was recorded on the Inspectors Statement.
TOTAL RECOUNT VOTE RESULTS for
Township of Merrimac & Village of Merrimac combined:
Trish O'Neil (DEM): 379
Keith Ripp (REP): 407
Dennis E. Hruby (IND) 47
Scattering: 1
Motion (Sacra/Evert), to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.
Sauk County Board of Canvassers adjourned @ 4:37 p.m.
Respectfully,
Patricia A. Van Oosten
Lead Deputy Sauk County Clerk
Minutes approved by Sauk County Board of Canvassers
this 17th day of November, 2008:
(1)________________________
Patricia A. Van Oosten
Lead Deputy Sauk County Clerk
(2)________________________
Rebecca C. Evert
Sauk County Canvasser
(3)________________________
Gregory W. Sacra
Sauk County Canvasser
cc:
State Elections Board
17 West Main Street, Suite 310
PO Box 2973
Madison, WI 53701-2973
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Libertarian Party
Township of Merrimac Clerk
Village of Merrimac Clerk