On April 6, 2011, Wisconsin liberal JoAnne Kloppenburg announced that she had won the Wisconsin election for Supreme Court Justice.
“We won. Our victory will hold.”
The next day they found 7,000 votes that went to her opponent Justice David Prosser.
Today, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg held a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin and finally conceded the Supreme Court election to Justice David Prosser.
JS Online reported:
Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg said Tuesday that she was conceding the Supreme Court race to Justice David Prosser, ending what had been a contentious campaign that culminated in a rare statewide recount.
Kloppenburg made the concession at a Madison news conference just over a week after the state’s Government Accountability Board reported that final count numbers showed Prosser with 7,006 more votes.
Her decision to concede is expected to pave the way for Prosser to begin a new, 10-year term on Aug. 1.
If Kloppenburg had challenged the recount, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson would have had to name a reserve judge to hear Kloppenburg’s court challenge. Court observers say it is likely that Abrahamson and the reserve judge would move as quickly as possible to consider the appeal.
Kloppenburg asked for the taxpayer-financed recount – the first statewide recount in two decades – after losing by 7,316 votes in the April 5 election. Waukesha County, a key stronghold for Prosser, finished its recount last.
The recount is estimated to cost taxpayers in excess of $550,000.