The chairman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission is taking issue with claims that millions of people may have fraudulently voted across the country earlier this month.
President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend argued on Twitter that the only reason Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote was because millions of people voted illegally. Trump has offered no evidence to support his claim.
WEC chairman Mark Thomsen said claims like Trump’s feed in to a “conspiracy theory” about the results of the election. “I think it’s most unfortunate that the president-elect is claiming there are huge problems with our system.”
Thomsen said it’s an insult to the people who run elections, who deserve better treatment. “I’ve never seen this kind of attack on poll workers.”
Thomsen also criticized the campaigns of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and independent “Rocky” Roque De La Fuente, who have requested a recount of the state’s presidential votes. Both campaigns have raised concerns some electronic voting machines used the state may have been tampered with – something state election officials have said is highly unlikely to have happened.
Thomsen expressed confidence that the recount, currently set to start Thursday, will reflect that. “We’re going to look back when this recount is completed and find that the system worked well,” he said.