WAUSAU — A candidate for Marathon County Board of Supervisors has requested a ballot recount after voting results showed she lost by just two votes.
Corrie Norrbom submitted a request Tuesday to the canvassing committee, a move that is allowed under state law because the vote is within a 1 percent margin. Initial polling results showed incumbent Craig McEwen beat Norrbom for the Dist. 18 seat by a vote of 456 to 454.
Elections are often decided by a few votes, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In many cases they are decided by one or two votes out of the several hundred or even several thousand votes that are cast. An election may even end in a tie vote. These circumstances encourage a candidate, typically the one who loses the election, to have all the ballots counted again to assure all legal votes are counted properly, any illegal votes are not counted, and the proper procedures for conducting the election were followed by the election officials.
A recount is the exclusive remedy to test in court the right of a candidate to hold office based on the number of votes cast at an election.
Marathon County Clerk Nan Kottke said the recount will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday. Wausau Pilot and Review will publish the results as soon as they are available.
