A contractor hired by the state to manage a $76.8 million renovation of Camp Randall Stadium agreed to accept a higher bid for a new scoreboard, over a competing offer that an outside consultant advised was of better quality.

The $78 million total adds up to more than $20 per vote, and more than doubles the previous record for a Wisconsin federal election.

The Republicans were able to keep a 5-3 lead in the U.S. House of Representatives, reclaim control of the state Senate by a margin of 18 to 15 seats, and secure a commanding 60-39 advantage in the state Assembly, despite getting fewer votes.

In the aftermath of the Nov. 6 elections, words like “fickle” and “schizophrenic” are being bandied about to describe the Wisconsin electorate, which chose a Democratic president but more Republicans for Congress and the state Legislature. A Center analysis shows that the vote tallies in Wisconsin’s congressional and state legislative races were not nearly as lopsided as the parties’ resulting share of seats — and election observers attribute this to the Republicans’ redistricting efforts in 2011.

The Vernon County Board passed an ordinance Thursday against sending electronic information “with the intent to annoy, offend, demean, ridicule, degrade, belittle, disparage or humiliate any person and which serves no legitimate purpose.”

Most. Expensive. Elections. Ever. So did all the money spent on TV ads, mailers, robocalls, live calls and so forth make an impression? Change anyone’s mind? Make people more likely to vote — or less? Here’s a gallery of what voters at polls around Madison told Center staffers today about the role of money in politics.

Already these expenditures by outside groups, coupled with prodigious spending by the candidates, make this the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin history.

At a campaign stop near Philadelphia early in his 2010 bid for governor, Republican Tom Corbett announced, “We’ve got to raise money,” calling this his campaign’s “No. 1” priority. That same July day, a $1.5 million contribution arrived — from Wisconsin. Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, calls this well-traveled donation a prime example of “an elaborate money-laundering scheme” used by the RGA with success in a number of races for governor in 2010 — one that is legal.