Judge denies Steven Campbell's request for hand recount in Green Bay City Council race

GREEN BAY - A Brown County judge on Friday denied Green Bay City Council candidate Steven Campbell's request to force a hand recount of ballots cast in the council race he lost by 16 votes.

Joey Prestley defeated Campbell, the incumbent, 355 votes to 340 in the April 2 election, a margin that entitled Campbell to request a recount. Campbell on April 11 filed a recount request and paid more than $4,300 to cover the costs. The April 12 recount affirmed Prestley's victory, but increased the margin to 16 votes. Campbell had until Friday to appeal the recount results. Until that deadline passes or an appeal is fully adjudicated, no one will represent District 6 on the City Council.

Also on April 12, Campbell filed an emergency motion in Brown County Circuit Court seeking a judge's order to compel city staff to hand count the ballots. His petition alleged there was voter fraud and a late batch of absentee ballots were delivered shortly before the polls closed on Election Day.

To compel a hand recount, state statutes say a candidate must provide evidence that an automated tally would produce an incorrect result or that a hand recount would produce a more correct result.

Brown County Circuit Court Judge Donald R. Zuidmulder told Campbell, who represented himself, he did not present any further evidence that a hand recount would produce a substantially different result from the April 2 count or the April 12 recount, during which both candidates or their representatives could inspect each ballot before it was fed into the computer counter. Zuidmulder asked whether Campbell or his representative during the April 11 recount challenged any of the ballots cast that he deemed suspicious, and Campbell said they had not.

Also during Friday's hearing, Campbell sought to enter as evidence a motion to decertify the election and recount results, but Zuidmulder said that it is a separate claim to file, not something that could be considered related to his emergency motion for a hand recount. Zuidmulder said the only issue before him was the recount.

Prestley's attorney, Diane Welsh, after the hearing said Zuidmulder's decision was reasoned and appropriate and that she hopes it lays the groundwork for Prestley to be sworn in to begin his term on the City Council. Campbell declined to comment.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JeffBollier.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Judge denies request for hand recount of Green Bay City Council race