JoAnne Kloppenburg

Who is JoAnne Kloppenburg?

JoAnne Kloppenburg is a former Assistant Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin, serving from 1989-2012 under Republican and Democratic Governors and a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She ran for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April 2011 against incumbent Justice David Prosser.

On April 6, the day after the election, Kloppenburg held an unofficial 204-vote lead over Prosser, and prematurely declared victory. On April 7, the Waukesha County clerk announced she had erroneously failed to include more than 14,000 votes in her reported totals, which gave Prosser a lead of more than 7,000 votes out of 1,500,000 cast statewide. Kloppenburg requested the recount she was entitled to by statute, which would be paid for by the state since the margin of the vote was less than one half of one percent. After the recount certified Prosser as the winner by 7,004 votes, Kloppenburg conceded the election.