'This should invigorate voter confidence': Washington County hand recount verifies results
Because Washington County Executive Joshua Schoemann heard that residents were concerned that the voting machines might not be accurate in counting the votes for the fall election, he suggested, well before the November election, that the county board do a hand count of the ballots.
"I felt the machines have been good, but there were so many questions and concerns, that multiple people were thinking of not voting (because of a lack of voter confidence)," he said.
On Dec. 7, Washington County officials completed a two-day recount by hand-counting the 74,525 ballots cast in the Nov. 8 election in the governor and U.S. Senate races.
The result? Only two ballots were not accounted for. According to the county clerk, Ashley Reichert, two ballots were jammed in the machine and the poll workers at the time thought they were counted, and they were not.
County supervisors approved doing the hand count for the two most popular elections, the governor and the U.S. Senate race, at the Sept. 21 county board meeting.
Schoemann said the purpose of the hand count was not to refute the election results, but rather to improve voter confidence.
"No one can say you are questioning the results," he said.
The county board budgeted $50,000 for this task, but Reichert said the final cost was well below that, at $9,300.
"This should invigorate voter confidence," said Schoemann. "I want to be telling people that the system passed. I want to thank Ashley, the county clerk and the poll workers. We are blessed to have an outstanding clerk."
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Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kozlowicz_cathy.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Washington County completes hand recount to check fall election result
