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Wisconsin election recount complete

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With the Dane County election recount finished and certified, President-elect Joe Biden still maintains his lead over President Donald Trump.

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell reported Biden’s vote count was reduced by 91 votes, to 260,094, while President Trump’s was reduced by 46, to 78,754.

Milwaukee County finished its recount, and certified results on Friday, and Biden increased his margin of victory by 149 votes.

The Trump campaign paid $3 million  for the recount in the state’s two most populous and diverse counties, each of which gave Biden solid margins. Biden carried the state by about 20,600 votes, and the state will certify statewide results on Tuesday.
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Milwaukee County recount completed

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The presidential recount is complete, in Milwaukee County. The recount concluded Friday evening, and according to the Milwaukee County Elections Commission which certified the results, no instances of fraud were found in the week long process.

President-Elect Joe Biden received 317,527 votes and President Donald Trump 134,482. The recount added 257 votes for Biden and 212 for Trump, netting a total of 45 votes for Biden. Dane County is expected to complete its recount this weekend.

The Trump campaign paid $3 million dollars for the recount in the state’s two most populous counties, both of which turned out bigly for Biden. The Democrat carried Dane County with 75 percent of the vote, and Milwaukee County with 65 percent. Menominee County, with a population of just 4200, gave Biden 82 percent of its votes.

Ho Chunk Nation flag flies outside Madison Municipal Building

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The flag of Wisconsin’s Ho-Chunk Nation now flies in front of the Madison Municipal Building.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway on Wednesday signed a flag proclamation “in honor of Ho-Chunk Day and in recognition of the fact that the City of Madison is located on the Nation’s ancestral land.”

In 2018, the Common Council declared the day after Thanksgiving to be Ho-Chunk Nation Day in the City of Madison. The flag was presented in an exchange ceremony in 2019 between the Mayor and Ho-Chunk nation president Marlon WhiteEagle.

Sarah Meaney leaving Wisconsin’s top Tourism job

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Secretary-designee Sarah Meaney

Department of Tourism Secretary-designee Sara Meaney is leaving the Evers Administration.

Governor Tony Evers appointed Meaney in December 2018, among the first appointments announced to the Democratic governor’s cabinet. Along with Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm, Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson and Safety and Professional Services Secretary Dawn Crim, Meaney has never received a confirmation vote from the Republican controlled state Senate.

Evers’ office announced Meaney will leave the post later this month to take a career opportunity outside of state government.

Evers described Meaney as “a relentless advocate for the tourism industry even before the pandemic, but especially as it has faced unprecedented challenges this past year.” Deputy Secretary Anne Sayers will serve as interim Tourism secretary.

Dane County Board of Canvassers upholds ‘Democracy in the Park’ ballots

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WRN photo

The Dane County Board of Canvassers has rejected a request from the Trump campaign to throw out more than 17,000 absentee ballots from Madison.

Those ballots were turned in to poll workers who fanned out to more than 200 city parks on two consecutive weekends this fall. The “Democracy in the Park” effort aimed to assist voters worried about a slowdown with the U.S. Postal Service, or who didn’t have a witness available who could sign their ballot envelope.

Trump attorney Jim Troupis argued such events are not legal and those votes should be invalidated, according to the Journal Sentinel. The board denied the request on a 2-1 vote. Trump’s campaign could still bring a lawsuit to try to get a court to overturn the board’s decision.

Republican state legislators had earlier questioned the legality of Democracy In The Park, but never filed a legal challenge.

 

 

Conservative group files last minute lawsuit to prevent certification of Wisconsin votes

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A conservative group has filed a lawsuit to prevent the state from certifying the election results.

The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Voters Alliance, seeks to have the State Supreme Court prevent the Elections Commission from certifying the results of the election and instead have the state legislature assign electors instead.

Among the claims in the lawsuit is a complaint that election grants from a non profit that has Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a donor unduly influenced the results in several of Wisconsin’s largest cities. A federal judge already rejected the claims about the elections grants earlier this year when the same group tried to prevent the funding.

The group also alleges that there has been widespread abuse and fraud in how the state handles and issues absentee ballots.

The Court has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to file briefs by Friday. The next business day would be Monday, November 30th, and the state’s votes need to be certified by December 1st.

Multiple lawsuits to prevent voting certification have already failed across the country. 

Milwaukee recount staff discover nearly 400 unopened absentee ballots, add them to vote totals

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Nearly 400 ballots are being added to the count in Milwaukee after elections officials found a stack of unopened, valid absentee ballots.

Milwaukee elections chief Claire Woodall-Vogg says human error led to valid votes being left out of the original count. 

“All these ballots that are now being added today were in our possession on November 3rd. They were received either via mail or via in-person absentee voting and I think it’s critical that the commission make this decision so that no voter is disenfranchised due to an election inspector error.”

Woodall-Vogg says the absentee ballots were accidentally looked over during the central count on Election night.

“So if there’s one positive to come out of the recount it’s that every vote is indeed being counted including these 386.”

Woodall-Vogg says the mistake was human error on the part of elections staff. The votes were certified by the county board of canvassers on a unanimous vote. 

Kaul lawsuit seeks to overturn portion of lame duck law

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Attorney General Josh has filed a lawsuit challenging parts of a Republican-authored law limiting his powers.

It was passed during a lame-duck legislative session two years ago, and the Democratic AG is targeting parts of the law requiring the state Department of Justice which he heads to get approval from the legislature’s finance committee before settling certain lawsuits.

“What we’re arguing is this case it that under our constitution’s separation of powers, those are core executive branch functions, and constitutionally it’s improper for the legislature to have a role in resolving those cases,” Kaul said Monday. “What that means is that our ability to get cases resolved that protect our environment, that protect consumers who were cheated by companies, or that save the taxpayers money by getting resolution for state agencies, those are harder to resolve now than they should be.”

This narrowly focused challenge comes four months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the lame-duck laws, which also restricted some of the authority of Governor Tony Evers.

WILL files lawsuit against Dane County health order, County Executive Parisi says order is needed for public safety

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Dane County and Madison will be stepping up to defend their health department in a lawsuit against health orders.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty wants the State Supreme Court to directly strike down an order restricting indoor gatherings in Dane County.

WILL President and General Counsel Rick Esenberg says the new order is invalid because the county board and city council did not vote on it. “The latest order from the health department in Dane County illustrates why a single, unelected and unaccountable health official should not be allowed to rule unilaterally by decree.”

“Banning private family gatherings just before Thanksgiving, while allowing Black Friday shopping, makes little sense.”

WILL is skipping Dane County Circuit Court entirely and asking the State Supreme Court to rule immediately on the lawsuit.

Dane County executive Joe Parisi says that Public Health Madison-Dane County has the authority to issue orders. “Our legal team is confident that we have the authority that’s been utilized by the city and the county and by the public health department and we will defend it vigorously in court.”

Parisi says this is just another effort to undermine health orders that are desperately needed to protect the public from COVID-19. “What they are attempting to do right now is to strike down the entire order and our ability to use the tools at our disposal to try to protect our community.”

“Let’s take a 30 day time out, let us get through two incubation cycles of the virus, and this could have a tangible impact on the spread, and provide some much-needed relief to our hospital system.”

Parisi says the city and the county will be defending the order vigorously in court. 

Wisconsin ships one millionth N95 mask

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced has announced milestone amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Wisconsin has shipped its one millionth N95 mask through the state distribution system, according to a statement released by Evers’ office on Monday.

“Ensuring frontline workers, first responders, and local communities have access to PPE— especially N95 masks— has been a top priority for us since the beginning of this pandemic. I want to extend my thanks to the state workers, local emergency management, and public health partners who have played a critically important role in this process and have worked tirelessly to ensure these lifesaving masks and other critical supplies are getting where they are needed most.”

The masks were shipped through a supply chain that was established in the spring by Wisconsin Emergency Management, the Department of Health Services, and other state partners.

The State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) works with county and tribal emergency managers to identify local needs and critical shortages. Regular shipments are then sent from a state warehouse facility, with local partners distributing allocations based on their assessments of local needs.

In addition to N95 masks, the SEOC and its partners have helped distribute other critical PPE supplies, including:

Over 16.1 million non-surgical and non-medical face masks

Over 7.9 million pairs of non-surgical and non-medical gloves

Over 1.7 million non-surgical and non-medical gloves

Nearly 225,000 KN95 respirators

Over 393,000 face shields and goggles

Over 30,000 thermometers

Almost 279,000 containers of hand sanitizer and disinfectants

More than 94,000 coveralls

WTAQ