Errors found, ballots counted in Wisconsin Senate race

An ongoing recount in a state Senate race in Wisconsin could end up impacting votes in the presidential recount launched here Thursday.

Errors have been discovered in about 60 in-person absentee ballots so far in Vernon County along the Mississippi River in southwest Wisconsin, but the majority of the ballots were ultimately counted.

The errors involved missing addresses on the ballots and were apparently the result of incorrect instructions given to voters by local clerks rather than mistakes initiated by the voters themselves, said Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney.

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The Vernon County recount involves a tight race between Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) and her GOP challenger, former state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who sought to invalidate the ballots. Any ballots thrown out in that recount would have presumably also be thrown out in the presidential recount in that county since voters in most cases would have marked their ballots for both offices.

Magney said attorneys for Kapanke and Shilling made their arguments and canvassing officials decided to accept the majority of the ballots.

Ballots are often counted if they contain clerical errors that are the fault of a public official rather than the voter to avoid penalizing the voter, Magney said.