Recounts are good for democracy
Canvassers in Columbia, Dane and Sauk counties will today begin the arduous work of recounting roughly 31,000 ballots cast in the 47th Assembly District contest between Republican Keith Ripp and Democrat Trish O'Neil.
The intense contest between Ripp and O'Neil is unsettled at this point, as the Republican's advantage over the Democrat stands at barely two dozen votes.
There are always those who grumble about the costs -- in time and resources -- that go with any recount.
But the grumbling is wrongheaded.
Of all the processes of democracy, none is more important to ensuring the integrity of the process than the recount.
When a result is close, it is essential that all the ballots be reviewed in order to ensure that choice of the electorate is properly identified.
When the U.S. Supreme Court intervened to halt the December 2000 recount of votes cast in Florida for president, the American people were denied that assurance. And George Bush's legitimacy as president was forever called into question.
Wisconsin should never seat officials in such a circumstance.
So we celebrate the choices of candidates in close contests around the state to seek recounts, many of which will be conducted this week. And we look forward to the seating of legislators who can take office with the assurance that comes from a well-conducted recount. We will know they are the true choices of the voters.
File photo
In this November 2006 file photo, clerks from three Columbia County municipalities, the village of Friesland's Marcia Dykstra, left; the town of Leeds' Karen Kampen, center, and the village of Cambria's Lois Frank, slide ballots into tally machines during the 47th Assembly recount at the Columbia County Courthouse Annex in Portage.
