SHARE Kathy Nickolaus

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Waukesha - The County Board's Executive Committee has ordered an audit of the county clerk's election equipment and system beginning with the September primary despite several memos she sent to the committee over the weekend defending her practices and resisting the move.

County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has maintained that as the one in charge of elections, she is responsible for the security and operation of the system. However, other county officials say they worry about the integrity of the old equipment and the system she's using and whether she has adequate backup.

County Corporation Counsel Thomas Farley told the committee Monday that as an elected official with responsibility for elections, "If she wants to keep everything secret, she probably can.

"I don't know if that's wise or what she should do, but if she wants to and the public is satisfied that that's what they want - someone who keeps everything secret - that's up to them."

The issue came to a head when Nickolaus removed the election results collection and tallying system from the county computer network this spring and installed it on standalone personal computers in her office. She has said they are backed up with redundant systems.

Director of Administration Norman A. Cummings said Nickolaus has been uncooperative with attempts to have information technologists review the system and confirm the backups.

He said he isn't interested in placing the system on the county network, but he wants to know whether the system is functional and secure and whether the county will have to replace equipment and programs in the next budget year - in time for the next presidential election.

"It is not a good idea to have one person in charge of everything," Cummings told the committee. "There should be someone who also reviews things. I'm not saying it should be IT. But there should be more accountability than there is now."

Nickolaus had asked for a postponement of the discussion because she had scheduled poll worker training before the matter was scheduled for committee action.

In several memos to the committee, she said she didn't have confidence that security wouldn't be breached with the county's information technology department.

She presented information from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that said voting systems should never be connected to a network not under the election official's control.

She also said she's running the most current election software certified - as required - by the state.

The only old equipment, she wrote, was a computer that collects results from local polling places by modem over the telephone lines.

Waukesha County is one of three or four counties that use that method.

"The rest have the results faxed, walked into the county clerk's office, or phoned in," she said.

Nickolaus also produced an e-mail from the staff attorney for the state's Government Accountability Board.

The attorney, Michael Haas, said that under state law, the clerk is ultimately responsible for securing election records and equipment.

Clerks also are subject to a complaint process, he added.

"In the event that an election is affected by an equipment issue, in other words, the clerk is likely to be the official held responsible and left to answer to any affected parties," Haas wrote.

Some committee members criticized Nickolaus for not providing election results for municipalities on election night, or not providing them soon enough at the April election.

Nickolaus reports county, state and federal results but discontinued local municipal and school reporting, contending that she doesn't have the staff to enter the data.