2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election of 2011 took place on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Unlike past elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the race between 12-year incumbent David Prosser, Jr. and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg gained significant nationwide publicity as it was widely seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget reforms in Wisconsin, and a part of the 2011 Wisconsin protests.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Wisconsin supreme court election, 2011

April 5, 2011

Nominee David Prosser, Jr. JoAnne Kloppenburg Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan Popular vote 752,694 745,690 Percentage 50.2% 49.8%

Map of results by county for the 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election. Red counties represent wins by Prosser, and blue counties represent wins by Kloppenburg. The darker the shading, the higher the percentage margin of victory for that particular candidate.

Justice before election David Prosser, Jr. Nonpartisan Elected Justice David Prosser, Jr. Nonpartisan

Campaign

Primary election

In December 2010, Prosser's campaign director expressed strong support for governor-elect Walker, saying Prosser's "personal ideology more closely mirrors" Walker's, and that a win by Prosser would result in, "protecting the conservative judicial majority and acting as a common sense compliment to both the new administration and Legislature."[10] He later disavowed the statements and claimed he had not seen the release.[11] Prosser's campaign manager also said, "This election is about a 4-3 common sense conservative majority vs. a 3-4 liberal majority, and nothing more."[12][13]

In a survey of attorneys conducted by the Milwaukee Bar Association that was published February 2011, Prosser received more votes saying he was "qualified" than any of his opponents; besting Kloppenburg by a margin of 296 to 112.[14] He was endorsed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the Sun Prairie Star.[15][16][17] He won the primary handily, receiving 231,000 votes to second place finisher Kloppenburg's 105,000 votes; a 30% margin.

2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court Primary[18]

Candidate		Votes	%
David Prosser (incumbent)		231,017	55
JoAnne Kloppenburg		105,002	25
Marla Stephens		45,256	11
Joel Winnig		37,831	9

General election

In the general election of April 5, 2011, Prosser again faced Kloppenburg. The contest received considerable attention due to the ongoing protests of Walker's budget repair bill and limitations on public employee bargaining rights; issues which would likely soon come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Heading into the election, the court had a conservative majority of 4-2-1 with Prosser identifying as a conservative and N. Patrick Crooks[19] considered a swing vote. Both candidates stated their unhappiness with the increasingly partisan nature of the race.[20]

Kloppenburg, supported by unions, particularly those of the public sector employees, tried to tie Prosser to the policies of Republican Governor Walker, and his March 2011 law limiting most of Wisconsin's public employees' collective bargaining rights. The non-partisan race for the court seat was also characterized as a proxy battle or referendum on the administration of Governor Walker and other Republican officials.[21][22][23] Both candidates indicated their unhappiness regarding the increasingly partisan nature of the race,[24][25] with Prosser claiming that his defeat would mean the end of judicial independence.[26]

On March 31, Prosser's campaign co-chair, former Democratic governor Patrick Lucey, resigned from the campaign and endorsed Kloppenburg, claiming Prosser had lost his impartiality, and was showing "a disturbing distemper and lack of civility that does not bode well for the High Court".[27] The Wausau Daily Herald reversed its primary election endorsement, and urged its readers to vote against Prosser in the general, describing him as "an intemperate figure given to partisan rhetoric".[28] Citing the earlier statement of Prosser's campaign director that the election is about maintaining a conservative majority on the court, The Capital Times endorsed Kloppenburg.[29] Prosser was endorsed by the Sun Prairie Star, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (via Twitter), among others for the general election.[30][31][32]

State officials predicted a voter turnout of around 20 percent, a typical level of turnout for an April election.[33] However, voter interest and turnout were unusually high with nearly 1.5 million votes cast.[34]

Results

On April 6, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, with 100% of precincts reporting and absentee ballots all tallied, had Kloppenburg maintaining a 204 vote lead.[35] Re-canvassing began the next day to verify to election results, and errors were found in counties favoring both contestants; Prosser gained votes from Winnebago and Waukesha, while Kloppenburg regained ground from a scattering of other counties, including Grant, Portage, Door, Iowa, Rusk, Vernon, and Shawano.[36] A news conference on April 7, held by the County Clerk of Waukesha County reported the existence of errors in Brookfield, Wisconsin where votes were never submitted to the Waukesha County total due to human error and that Prosser had picked up a 7,500-vote margin over Kloppenburg in the county as a result. In response, the Kloppenburg campaign filed an Open Records request for the contact records of the Waukesha County Clerk and a request was filed with the region's US Attorney to impound the additional ballots.[37]

As of April 8, 2011, Waukesha County's turnout was officially 47% (increased from 42% before the correction).[38] Statewide turnout during the election was officially 33%. On election day, Deputy Clerk Gina Kozlik had estimated turnout in the county to be 20-25%,[39] with up to 35% turnout in some polling locations within the county.[40] Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight.com did an analysis on the turnout numbers and found the Waukesha results to be in line with previous elections.[41] An independent investigation into the actions of Waukesha County Clerk found probable cause to believe that she violated the state law requiring county clerks to post all returns on Election Night, but concluded that the violation was not wilful and therefore did not constitute criminal misconduct.[42]

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board announced on April 8 that they were sending voting officials to Waukesha County to confirm the 14,315 votes that were found to never have been submitted from Brookfield.[43] On April 15, Prosser was named the official winner by 7,316 votes after all county canvassing was completed.[44] On April 20, Kloppenburg asked for a recount. The recount began on Wednesday, April 27 and must finish by May 9.[45]

At the end of May 9, all Wisconsin counties aside from Waukesha had completed their recount process. In response, a Dane County judge gave them an extension until May 26 to complete the recount process. It was reported that Waukesha County was counting only one ward at a time and, on May 9, moved to a larger area in the Waukesha County courthouse in order to count two wards at one time. This is much slower than the rest of the counties, adjacent Milwaukee County reportedly counted eight wards simultaneously. Waukesha County reportedly took extra steps to ensure all votes were counted correctly.[46]

On May 20, the recount was completed across the state with Prosser leading by 7,006 votes.[47] On May 23, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board confirmed Prosser won the election.[48]

County results

County	Won by	Prosser %	Prosser votes	Kloppenburg %	Kloppenburg votes
Adams	K	48%	2,385	52%	2,557
Ashland	K	30%	1,384	70%	3,266
Barron	P	50%	4,708	50%	4,641
Bayfield	K	33%	1,958	67%	3,960
Brown	P	55%	33,345	45%	27,242
Buffalo	P	51%	1,687	49%	1,608
Burnett	P	54%	1,943	46%	1,659
Calumet	P	62%	7,503	38%	4,645
Chippewa	K	49%	6,854	51%	7,224
Clark	P	58%	4,321	42%	3,063
Columbia	K	45%	7,306	55%	8,963
Crawford	K	41%	1,687	59%	2,431
Dane	K	27%	48,655	73%	133,658
Dodge	P	61%	13,379	39%	8,524
Door	P	53%	5,193	47%	4,670
Douglas	K	31%	3,815	69%	8,676
Dunn	K	44%	4,067	56%	5,155
Eau Claire	K	42%	11,425	58%	15,933
Florence	P	62%	800	38%	483
Fond du Lac	P	61%	15,942	39%	10,188
Forest	P	56%	1,531	44%	1,198
Grant	K	44%	4,285	56%	5,705
Green	K	45%	4,886	55%	5,860
Green Lake	P	65%	3,786	35%	2,056
Iowa	K	38%	2,455	62%	3,915
Iron	K	45%	755	55%	934
Jackson	K	45%	2,216	55%	2,694
Jefferson	P	58%	13,261	42%	9,763
Juneau	K	48%	2,539	52%	2,700
Kenosha	K	47%	14,419	53%	16,245
Kewaunee	P	58%	3,328	42%	2,405
La Crosse	K	41%	12,135	59%	17,404
Lafayette	K	48%	2,032	52%	2,184
Langlade	P	58%	2,664	42%	1,895
Lincoln	P	50%	3,576	50%	3,545
Manitowoc	P	61%	12,197	39%	7,765
Marathon	P	54%	17,126	46%	14,836
Marinette	P	55%	4,985	45%	4,084
Marquette	P	56%	2,219	44%	1,723
Menominee	K	37%	141	63%	240
Milwaukee	K	43%	99,368	57%	129,108
Monroe	K	49%	4,508	51%	4,692
Oconto	P	57%	5,212	43%	3,879
Oneida	P	52%	5,520	48%	5,138
Outagamie	P	57%	24,785	43%	18,877
Ozaukee	P	72%	20,854	28%	8,298
Pepin	K	47%	882	53%	983
Pierce	K	45%	4,056	55%	4,915
Polk	P	51%	4,661	49%	4,439
Portage	K	40%	8,121	60%	12,124
Price	P	52%	2,165	48%	2,024
Racine	P	56%	28,248	44%	22,577
Richland	K	45%	1,797	55%	2,185
Rock	K	40%	14,636	60%	22,196
Rusk	P	53%	2,189	47%	1,941
Sauk	K	44%	7,159	56%	9,187
Sawyer	P	51%	2,126	49%	2,051
Shawano	P	61%	5,543	39%	3,628
Sheboygan	P	63%	19,546	37%	11,419
St. Croix	P	51%	8,276	49%	7,960
Taylor	P	61%	3,652	39%	2,292
Trempealeau	K	46%	2,878	54%	3,330
Vernon	K	45%	3,578	55%	4,331
Vilas	P	60%	4,210	40%	2,821
Walworth	P	61%	14,245	39%	8,936
Washburn	K	48%	2,268	52%	2,451
Washington	P	76%	30,797	24%	9,909
Waukesha	P	74%	92,331	26%	32,777
Waupaca	P	59%	7,204	41%	5,029
Waushara	P	60%	3,402	40%	2,301
Winnebago	P	52%	20,719	48%	18,908
Wood	K	49%	8,865	51%	9,287

See also

• 2011 Wisconsin protests
• 2011 Wisconsin Act 10
• Wisconsin Senate recall elections, 2011
• Wisconsin Senate recall elections, 2012
• Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, 2012

References

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