Recount tonight in Darien
If you go
What: Ballot recount for Darien Village Board primary race
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Darien Village Hall, 24 N. Wisconsin St., Darien.
Details: Candidate Helen Burton petitioned for the recount. She missed moving on to the general election by two votes.
For more information: The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board recount procedures manual is available at elections.state.wi.us.
DARIEN — Before the dust settles from Tuesday's primary election, the village of Darien will be recounting ballots.
Candidate Helen Burton, 310 N. Cavanaugh Court, Darien, late Wednesday afternoon filed a petition for recount in the race for village board trustee, she told The Janesville Gazette.
Burton missed moving on from Tuesday's primary to the general election by two votes.
"With everything going on, I just don't trust it," Burton said of Tuesday's election.
The Darien primary race was one of only five in Rock and Walworth counties on Tuesday. The village has been home to controversy and heated discussion of late.
The village's police chief has been suspended with pay since Dec. 1, and officials have struggled to decide how to cover a projected sewer revenue shortage.
Aside from the controversy, an equipment malfunction the county clerk called "not uncommon" added to Burton's unease.
Mid-morning on Election Day, a voting machine memory card failed, Walworth County Clerk Kim Bushey said. Her office "redownloaded" the village card, and voting continued, she said.
When polls closed, village election workers were unable to send in the results electronically, again because of a memory card problem, Bushey said. At Bushey's request, the village faxed the paper copy of the election results, and she entered them manually.
Burton earned seventh place among eight candidates. The top six vote getters are to move on to vie for three seats in the April 7 general election.
Burton earned 53 votes, two votes behind Cindy Holmes, 30 E. Beloit St., Darien, who took sixth place.
State law requires the ballots be recounted the same way they were the first time—through the optical scan machine. Burton has the option to petition for another counting method, according to guidelines from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
The recount is open to the public and will be noticed like a regular government meeting, Dennison said. Burton and her representative may observe.
It will be up to the board of canvass to maintain order and prevent ballot tampering during the recount, he said.
Feb 19, 2009 at 10:19 p.m.
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If someone could find voter fraud WOW .
Feb 19, 2009 at 9:43 p.m.
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The good old boys are gonna have a knot no matter what. The jig is up. They have gone too far and finally important people are onto them.
Say buh-BYE Metzner, Maltese and Putman!
Feb 19, 2009 at 7:24 p.m.
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And if the vote goes the other way, the good ole boys ar gonna have a knot in their underware .
Feb 19, 2009 at 11:12 a.m.
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Something so simple as filling in an oval with a felt tip pen can become so complicated; only in America. I wonder if Jim Doyle had anything to do with this?
Feb 19, 2009 at 9:23 a.m.
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nothing comes for free!
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