By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A county clerk likely violated the law when she failed to report thousands of votes in this spring’s tightly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but her conduct wasn’t criminal, state investigators said Wednesday. Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus touched off a firestorm in April when she revealed she hadn’t reported 14,000 ...

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A federal judge has struck down Wisconsin campaign disclosure laws that required a Whitewater man to register before distributing flyers and postcards about a referendum. The laws require anyone who spends $25 to influence a referendum to register, disclose names of donors and include disclaimers saying who paid for materials. In March 2010 Charles Hatchett filed a ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin attorney general’s office is being asked for a legal opinion on whether a recall targeting the governor would also include the lieutenant governor. The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board on Monday voted to ask for the opinion. Board staff said in a memo that it believes a recall initiative against the governor would not include ...

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s new law requiring photo identification be shown at the polls will be filed in the next week or two, the head of the state chapter of the League of Women Voters told the election oversight board Monday. Andrea Kaminski told the Government Accountability Board ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The board that oversees elections in Wisconsin is asking the attorney general to issue a legal opinion on whether a recall targeting the governor would also include the lieutenant governor. Wisconsin Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy said in a memo to the board that the agency believes a recall initiative against the governor would not ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A rule designed to regulate those nasty campaign ads that flood Wisconsin air waves every fall could stifle political speech across the state, an attorney for a coalition of conservative groups argued before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. The group wants the high court to strike down the rule. The ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser will not hear a campaign finance case being argued next week by the attorney who represented him in a recount of his election victory. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that Prosser told parties involved in the case on Thursday that he would step aside. His one-sentence letter did not ...

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruling could lead to even more spending in Wisconsin’s recall elections. A 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Monday that the state’s $10,000 annual contribution limit on so-called “super PACs,” or political action committees that do not coordinate with specific candidates or their campaigns, can’t ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A panel of federal judges in Milwaukee refused Thursday to wade into Wisconsin’s political redistricting fight, rejecting a request to take over the process from lawmakers. The court fight over the state’s legislative district boundaries is far from over, though. Another federal lawsuit alleging the Legislature’s maps are unconstitutional is still ...

Now that a bipartisan proposal to appoint — rather than elect — Wisconsin Supreme Court justices is before the Legislature, a slew of readers want to know more.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A former prosecutor has been named to look into a complaint that accuses the Waukesha County clerk of misconduct in carrying out her duties during the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The complaint against Kathy Nickolaus was filed with Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board by campaign officials for JoAnne Kloppenburg, who lost the April 5 election to ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin state insurance commissioner Ted Nickel and nine other donors to Republican Gov. Scott Walker have been accused of breaking the state’s campaign finance law. Watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a complaint Wednesday with the Government Accountability Board related to donations that exceeded the $10,000 limit allowed to be given during the campaign period. ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Dane County judge has ruled that a Republican state lawmaker can’t have his name added to the ballot for an upcoming recall election. Judge Richard Niess ruled against Rep. John Nygren of Marinette on Friday afternoon. State election officials ruled this week that Nygren wasn’t eligible to run. They said he submitted two fewer voter ...

By DINESH RAMDE Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — County clerks in northeastern Wisconsin have begun preparing ballots for a recall election in three weeks, fully aware that an impending court ruling involving the state senate race could turn all their plans upside-down. Clerks in Brown, Marinette, Oconto and Shawano counties are getting ready for a general election July 19 between ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Dane County judge will hear arguments this week in the case of a Republican state lawmaker who says his name should be on the ballot in an upcoming recall election. Rep. John Nygren of Marinette filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state Government Accountability Board. He said board officials acted in haste this week when ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge says voters should assume that all nine recall elections will go forward while lawsuits challenging their legitimacy are pending. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess said at a hearing Wednesday that he anticipates ruling in the cases before the first primaries scheduled for July 12. Attorneys for the six Republican and three Democratic state ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An attorney representing three Democratic state senators targeted for recalls does not support combining their lawsuit against the Government Accountability Board with lawsuits filed by six Republican senators. A motion was filed Tuesday by the state Justice Department on behalf of the GAB seeking consolidation of the cases currently pending in Dane County circuit court. Both ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Attorneys are seeking to combine separate legal challenges seeking to invalidate efforts to recall nine Wisconsin state senators from office. Six Republicans have filed separate legal challenges seeking to overturn a decision by the Government Accountability Board allowing their recall elections to move forward. Three Democratic senators have also filed a lawsuit challenging the board’s decision ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The recent recount in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg cost counties more than $500,000, an Associated Press survey found. The AP queried election officials in all 72 counties, asking for their best cost estimates. Seventy counties reported spending a total of nearly $520,500. ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A retired judge serving on the state elections board will mediate the dispute over Wisconsin Capitol access. Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Albert has appointed retired Court of Appeals Judge Gordon Myse as mediator. Myse is serving an extended term on the Government Accountability Board until a replacement is chosen by Gov. Scott Walker. The ...

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin board that certifies elections declared Monday that a recount had confirmed state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser defeated challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg in the hard-fought April 5 election many saw as a referendum on polarizing union rights legislation. The board said Prosser won by 7,004 votes after Kloppenburg picked up ...

By Jason Smathers Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin state ethics board said Wednesday it dismissed all ethics complaints against lawmakers that arose from the dispute over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s divisive anti-union bill, including a complaint against Walker after he was recorded saying he and his staff considered planting political agitators among demonstrators protesting his the bill. ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge gave Waukesha County nearly three more weeks to complete its recount in the state Supreme Court race, saying Monday that he would sacrifice speed for confidence in the county’s results. Wisconsin counties had until Monday to complete their recounts. State elections officials said all the counties had finished by ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board will be asking for an extension in the deadline to complete the recount in the state Supreme Court race. Board director Kevin Kennedy said Thursday that Dane County has requested a one-day extension to Monday’s deadline. He says Waukesha County has also asked for a deadline extension and the board is ...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Government Accountability Board says that as of Sunday afternoon only about one third of the state’s reporting units have completed their recount of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The recount information is due to the state in just eight days. The recount process began Wednesday with Justice David Prosser holding a more than 7,000 ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The first statewide recount in more than 20 years began Wednesday with county workers scrutinizing ballots in a state Supreme Court race that many saw as a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his polarizing collective bargaining law. Challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg requested a recount after county tallies showed Justice David ...

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The recount in the state Supreme Court race will begin Wednesday and, barring a court-ordered extension, must be finished by May 9. Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Board discussed the recount procedure Monday with local election officials from nearly all 72 counties. Given the rarity of a statewide recount, clerks on the ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state board that oversees elections in Wisconsin is hosting a meeting with local elections officials to discuss how a recount of the state Supreme Court race will proceed. Monday’s meeting hosted by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board comes two days before the recount in the race between Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg was ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin election officials say Waukesha County’s vote totals in the state Supreme Court election appear to match totals from the county’s municipalities. The Government Accountability Board reviewed the county’s totals after Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced she failed to report 14,000 votes from the city of Brookfield. The new votes gave incumbent Justice David Prosser the lead ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A committee has nominated three former judges to replace an outgoing member of the state Government Accountability Board. A board committee on Tuesday announced it had selected Charles P. Dykman of Madison, Dennis Luebke of Appleton and Timothy Vocke of Rhinelander as possible replacements for Gordon Myse, whose term ends next month. Gov. Scott Walker now ...