RACINE, Wis. (WSAU) – Republican state Senator Van Wanggaard on Friday asked the Government Accountability Board to recount the votes in a recall election that swept him out of office.

“I do not seek a recount as a delaying tactic,” Wanggaard said in a statement. “The recount that I am requesting on behalf of more than 35,000 supporters has a simple philosophy behind it – 'trust but verify.'”

“I hope that a trusted and verified result of the election will finally allow us to move forward.”

In his petition to the GAB, Wanggaard claims that individuals voted in more than one location, were given incentives to vote, and gave help to voters who were not documented. Wanggaard also alleges that numerous challenges by election observers were not properly documented or acknowledged by election officials and that electioneering took place in polling locations.

Wanggaard lost his 21st Senate district to Democrat John Lehman.

Democrats pounced on Wanggard's decision.

“It is shameful in this era of deficit crises that Van Wanggaard is willing to waste taxpayer money in a desperate effort to cling to political power,” state Democratic Party chair Mike Tate said. “It is also shameful that Wanggaard has resorted to raising the specter of fraud, when the fact is that the voters of his district rejected him in a hard-fought, but fair, contest.”