Recount of Wisconsin Judge Race Prompts Ballot Challenges

The ouster of a conservative Wisconsin judge by less than one percent of the vote prompted a recount.

Election ballots are shown as workers count mail-in and in-person absentee ballots in a file photo. Scott Olson/Getty Images

A widely watched recount is underway of the results of an election for circuit judge in Racine County, Wisconsin.

The incumbent Circuit Court Judge Jon Fredrickson lost to challenger Jamie McClendon by 55 votes. Voters cast 60,349 ballots for the office.

Fredrickson, who has served in the post since 2019, requested the recount.

McClendon is a former public defender and is a local attorney in private practice.

In Wisconsin, if the margin of victory is within two percentage points, the recount is paid for by taxpayers.

Racine County resident Jim Spodick, a political Independent and election integrity activist with the organization Honest, Open, and Transparent Government (HOT Government), was at the courthouse as an unofficial observer on April 14, the first day of the recount.

According to Spodick, no representatives from the local, state, or national GOP were there to fight for the interests of Fredrickson, a conservative judge.

“I noticed that several absentee ballot envelopes had clear defects on them, sufficient to disqualify that ballot under Wisconsin law,” he said.

“These were not being properly challenged for lack of Fredrickson observers, who were outnumbered literally nine-to-one by McClendon’s people. That kind of imbalance is not right.”

Spodick said he then went on social media and summoned a group of HOT Government members from Racine County, who quickly came out to work for Fredrickson in the recount.

The Racine County Republican Party and Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen, a Republican, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Spodick said his group contacted Election Watch, an election integrity watchdog organization, which purchased the entire Racine County voter roll and began analyzing it for mistakes and irregularities.

Records Show Ineligible Voters, Group Alleges

Election Watch alleged that there are 823 discrepancies after it cross-checked the April 15, 2025, state voter roll with the United States Postal Service Change of Address database to which it subscribes.

The discrepancies included 40 individuals who moved to another Wisconsin county years ago but are recorded as voting in the April 1, 2025, election from their former Racine County registered address, the group alleged.

Wisconsin election integrity activist Jim Spodick Courtesy of Jim Spodick

Election Watch alleged that another 11 individuals who voted in Racine County had moved out of Wisconsin well before the election.

According to Election Watch, more than 250 registered voters in Racine County were found by the United States Post Office as not having received mail at their registered address for at least 90 days—an indicator that they are possibly not living at the registered address of record.

All voted from those addresses in the April 1 election, according to the group.

Election Watch spokesman Peter Bernegger told The Epoch Times that they discovered 51 individuals who voted in the April 1 election in Racine County had earlier registered to vote from a physical primary residence in the county, and “at some point in time, made a post office box their primary residence.”

Wisconsin law permits an individual to list a P.O. box as a secondary residence, but that person must be registered to vote from a primary physical location where he or she sleeps.

Spodick said, “This kind of thing is normally not the local clerk’s fault. A statewide system that allows bloated and inaccurate voter registration rolls to persist is what is wrong.”

If the results of the recount do not change the outcome of the election, Fredrickson has the right to appeal in court.

Fredrickson and McClendon did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

“Based on the dirty voter rolls, the court could order a redo of the election,” said Bernegger.

‘Not About Fredrickson Staying in Office’

Sandra Morris of HOT Government Wisconsin. Courtesy of Sandra Morris

Sandra Morris, a Navy veteran and HOT Government activist who personally filed scores of challenges in connection with the recount, told The Epoch Times: “For me, it’s not about Fredrickson staying in office.

“I just want fair and lawful elections in which only eligible voters participate.

“Given all the challenges, which are backed up by official government data, I think there should be a redo of the April 1 election in Racine County.

“It would be good for every candidate and all the eligible voters,” said Morris.

“We’re not free if we don’t have fair elections.”