Unreturned absentee ballots could alter GOP Assembly primary
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The results of Tuesday's Republican primary for the 98th Assembly District in Waukesha County - where Adam Neylon emerged the unofficial winner by a slim margin of 30 votes - hangs in the balance as municipal clerks wait a few more days for a total of 154 unreturned absentee ballots.
Clerks in four of five communities in the district are waiting until 4 p.m. Friday to see how many of the absentee ballots show up, Waukesha County Clerk Kathleen Novack said Thursday.
State law requires clerks to count absentee ballots that arrive by the Friday after an election as long as they are postmarked the day of the election.
The number of outstanding ballots is more than enough to alter the outcome of the race.
Neylon, a Village of Pewaukee window cleaning business owner, received 2,003 votes to outpoll Village of Pewaukee Police Chief Ed Baumann, who received 1,973 votes, according to unofficial complete returns.
Less than one percentage point separates the two, with Neylon at 38.3% of all votes cast in the partisan primary and Baumann at 37.7%. The state would pay for a recount if the margin becomes less than half a percentage point.
Novack expects to receive final counts from the four municipal clerks by Monday morning.
Results of voting in the primary for the Assembly seat will not be official until a county canvass is completed on Tuesday, Novack said.
The winner is all but guaranteed the job since no Democrat is running for the seat in the April 2 general election.
A Town of Lisbon canvass Wednesday did not identify any unreturned absentee ballots.
The Village of Pewaukee canvass showed 39 requested absentee ballots had not been returned while a City of Pewaukee canvass disclosed 21 unreturned absentee ballots. A municipal canvass held in the Village of Sussex determined 28 absentee ballots had not been returned, while the City of Waukesha's canvass identified 66 unreturned absentee ballots.
