(The Center Square) – The much-anticipated hearings into voter fraud claims and election malfeasance in Wisconsin will not end with the revelation of massive fraud.
The hearing at the statehouse kicked off Friday morning.
Republican Wisconsin Elections Commission member Dean Knudson told lawmakers on the panel that he’s not seen any official complaints about ballot drop boxes, extra votes, and no problem with the Dominion voting machines.
“I have not seen credible evidence of large scale voter fraud in Wisconsin during the November election,” Knudson said.
There are a lot of claims of localized voter fraud. News Talk 1130 WISN host Dan O’Donnell, who was the hearing’s first witness, told lawmakers he’s spoken with families who had dead relatives vote.
But most of the early conversation at the hearing focused on the recount process in Madison and Milwaukee.
Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, said there are questions about how those recounts were conducted, mainly questions about keeping observers at a distance, that need to be answered.
“There wasn’t real transparency for these observers to actually be able to do their jobs,” Sortwell said Friday. “And I’m wondering then if, as we go forward and try and rebuild some of the trust that’s been lost from this election cycle, should we be looking at [new] laws and bills?”
The hearing was scheduled to last eight hours. Each witness was given 20 minutes to speak, with lawmakers allowed to ask questions, time-permitting.
The hearings started on the same day as a judge’s decision to dismiss President Donald Trump’s fifth legal challenge to Wisconsin’s election results.
Reserve Judge Stephen Simanek said in his ruling there “is no credible evidence of misconduct or wide-scale fraud.”
The president’s lawsuit wanted to toss out more than 200,000 votes, because as the president’s lawyer claimed, the process for accepting indefinitely confined ballots went beyond state law. Judge Simanek disagreed. He also disagreed with the president’s claim that ballots collected at a get-out-the-vote rally in a Madison park were illegally harvested.
The president is down to one final lawsuit, one that would set-aside Wisconsin’s vote count and allow the Republican-led legislature to name new electors. But the chances for that are slim. Wisconsin’s electors, and electors across the country, are set to vote for president on Monday. The judge in the case is expected to rule no later than Saturday.
By Benjamin Yount | The Center Square
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Reposted with permission
