Friday’s hearing for Republican lawmakers to listen to concerns about Wisconsin’s November presidential election appears front loaded with partisan testimony, and very little from local elections officials.
Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee chair, Representative Ron Tusler (R-Harrison), said many of those concerns center on Milwaukee.
“Some of those concerns have been ‘look I’m not from the Milwaukee County area, and I don’t quite understand how this works or that works, or how one particular ward got so many more votes than it usually does, and this seems really abnormal,'” Tusler said, adding that others “saw something when they were voting that they didn’t think looked quite right. Other folks just in general thought that things happened in the middle of Milwaukee County at night that changed the results of the election significantly.”
Tusler on Thursday released a list of those scheduled to testify. They include conservative Milwaukee talk radio host Dan O’Donnell, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell, Republican appointees of the state Elections Commission, and an unspecified number of concerned citizens. The committee has not scheduled time for Meagan Wolfe, the state’s chief elections administrator.
Tusler said his office has heard from over 5,000 people with concerns about the election.
“But it’s pretty broad. Folks have brought a lot of different concerns and not just in Milwaukee and Dane County as well. In other counties too, especially Brown.”
Democrats on the committee issued a statement in which they referred to the hearing as a “cynical attempt to undermine the will of the people.”
“You know to come out against a hearing before it’s even happened . . it’s just nonsensical,” Tusler said.
In a separate interview with the Journal Sentinel, Tusler said he was “undecided . . . right now,” on whether Republicans who control the Legislature should change how the state’s electoral votes will be cast, before the Electoral College meets Monday. He also wouldn’t say whether he thinks Joe Biden, who won Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes, was the actual winner in the state.
The joint hearing with a Senate Committee is scheduled for 10:00 AM.
