Subject: Re: [EL] Wisc
From: Justin Levitt
Date: 4/7/2011, 6:24 PM
To: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

Amen to both Brad and Rick, who seem to agree here.  

Investigating oddities to get more information is natural, and beneficial to the system (and also what a recount or audit is for).  Jumping to the conclusion (or presumption) that a disfavored result is (or emphasizing that it might be) the product of fraud strikes me as very different, arising out of very different motives, and intended to produce a very different result ... whether the candidate on the losing end is Republican or Democratic or neither.

Justin

On 4/7/2011 5:36 PM, Smith, Brad wrote:
I don't think that your description is correct, Larry.  As I understand it (and I could be wrong, I'm just reading early press reports, and I've not been on line today until now, having spent the day traveling from New Orleans) she found some 14,000 plus votes, which resulted in a net addition for Prosser of some 7500 votes - which would not be unlikely for any 15K of votes in heavly Republican Waukesha County.  More precisely, the numbers were 10,859 for Prosser and 3456 for  Kloppenberg (another report I've seen says it was 11,008 for Prosser, see www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/119424759.html.)
 
I can understand suspicion - certainly you'd find it in some Republicans if the same type of correction occured in Dane County for a Democratic gain - but that's a huge difference from just "finding" 7500+ votes all going to the same candidate. 
 
Ramona Kitzinger, Vice-Chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party and a member of the canvassing board, has apparently vouched for the new results, although I've not seen that sourced  - it appeared at National Review online, which did not list their source.
 
As I have done often in the past, I urge both sides to be very cautious with claims of "fraud." I said it back in 2000 and I've said it in almost every contested election since. But you are correct that mistakes and screw ups create suspicion. 
 
 
Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
http://www.law.capital.edu/Faculty/Bios/bsmith.asp

From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu on behalf of Larry Levine
Sent: Thu 4/7/2011 7:46 PM
To: election-law
Subject: [EL] Wisc

Lo and behold if the County Clerk in Waukeshaw County, Wisc. didn't find 7,582 lost ballots, all for Prosser. She's applying for the job of Secretary of State in Florida. If people have no confidence in the electoral process it's not because of the candidates and campaigns. It's because of screw ups by elections officials.
Larry

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-- 
Justin Levitt
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
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