O'Neil to file for recount after canvass in 47th Assembly District
By Lyn Jerde, Capital Newspaeprs
There still are just 28 votes separating Republican Keith Ripp and Democrat Trish O'Neil, following completion of the post-election canvass in all three of the counties with precincts in the 47th Assembly District.
Each candidate gained four additional votes from the canvasses.
Also Monday, Shane Falk, staff counsel for the state Government Accountability Board, said they have received a notice from O'Neil of her intent to file for a recount as soon as all three canvass reports have been submitted. Paperwork for the recount request has been prepared, he said, but cannot be filed until the board receives all the applicable canvass reports.
Maura Tracy, O'Neil's campaign manager, confirmed Monday that the candidate still plans to request a recount.
Columbia County's canvass was completed at about 7 p.m. Friday, said County Clerk Sue Moll. The 17-hour task, performed over two days, resulted in O'Neil and Ripp gaining three votes apiece, all of which were found on the first day of canvassing Thursday.
O'Neil and Ripp each got one additional vote as the result of Dane County's canvass, and there was no change reported from the canvass in Sauk County.
The results of the Nov. 4 general election stand, after the canvasses, at 15,450 for Ripp and 15,422 for O'Neil.
Kyle Richmond, spokesman for the Government Accountability Office, said the office had received Dane County's canvass information Monday, but was still awaiting receipt of the canvass information from Sauk and Columbia counties as of late Monday.
The three-business-day filing deadline for a recount request will be calculated from the date on which the last of these three county's canvass reports is received at the Government Accountability Board, Falk said.
The recount would be conducted by the boards of canvass in the three counties.
The 47th District race also was the subject of a recount in 2006, when Republican incumbent Eugene Hahn was declared the winner on Nov. 27 - 20 days after the election. Democratic challenger Meagan Yost called off the recount shortly after it began in Columbia County.
By Wisconsin law, O'Neil's request for a recount would cost her nothing, because the margin between her and Ripp, 0.09 percent, is well below the 0.5 percent maximum difference for a free recount.
Ripp, 46, is a town of Dane supervisor, president of the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board, and owner and manager of Ripp Farms. O'Neil, 56, is a registered nurse and the former president of the Columbus School Board.
Nov. 6: O'Neil plans to seek recount
Nov. 5: ELECTION RESULTS: Local and national races
Oct. 15: 47th Assembly candidates spar at Lodi forum