WAUKESHA, Wis. — A conservative-leaning Wisconsin county corrected its count yesterday, giving an unofficial 7,500-vote lead to the incumbent in the hotly contested state Supreme Court race seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s divisive union-rights law.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said the votes weren’t reported Tuesday because of “human error.’’
“This is not a case of extra votes or extra ballots being found,’’ she said.
Before the announcement, it was assumed that conservative Justice David Prosser’s race against liberal assistant state attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg was headed for a recount. But Prosser’s lead is likely to stand if the new numbers hold up through canvassing in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
Opponents of the union-rights law hoped a Kloppenburg victory would set the stage for the high court to strike it down.