Top Wisconsin Republican Robin Vos hires former cops to investigate November election
the state’s largest cities used more than $6 million in grants from a private group to run their elections.
Vos in a Wednesday interview said he was giving the investigators a broad mandate to spend about three months reviewing all tips and following up on the most credible ones. In addition to the grant spending, he said they may look into claims of double voting and review how clerks fixed absentee ballot credentials.
“Is there a whole lot of smoke or is there actual fire? We just don’t know yet,” Vos said.
Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who leads the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said she was worried the investigation would undermine confidence in an election that was conducted properly.
“I think it’s unfortunate that the Legislature is using its resources to investigate what has already been thoroughly investigated and it is my hope that instead they could work toward expanding opportunities and ease of voting for Wisconsin voters,” she said.
Vos said he is hiring three former law enforcement officers along with an attorney who will oversee them.
As contractors with the Legislature, they will have subpoena power. Anyone they subpoena will be immune from criminal prosecution, he said.
Vos said the investigators likely will provide him a report by the fall with their findings. He said he wants to identify laws that should be changed rather than try to find people who the investigators believe have violated the law. He did not rule out the possibility the investigators would refer some matters to prosecutors.
The move comes after voters in Georgia sued to review ballots and the Arizona Senate seized Maricopa County’s ballots so a private company called Cyber Ninjas could review them. Some Republicans have called the Arizona review laughable and dangerous because it involves a company that has not previously audited elections using microscopes and UV lights to examine ballots.
Vos said he couldn’t speak for Arizona, but he expected to avoid that kind of controversy by hiring investigators who will produce a report the public can trust.
judges nominated by Trump.
Republican lawmakers in February directed the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau to review aspects of the election. The investigators Vos is hiring would perform work separate from the audit bureau.
face likely vetoes from Evers.
After Biden won, Trump and his allies challenged numerous election practices.
They argued clerks were wrong to fill in the addresses of witnesses on absentee ballot envelopes. They claimed too many people were allowed to claim they were indefinitely confined because of age or disability, which allowed them to vote absentee without submitting a copy of an ID. They said cities shouldn’t have established drop boxes for absentee ballots.
quickly shot down by state and federal courts.
Republicans have also questioned grants provided to Milwaukee, Madison and other Democratic-leaning cities by the Center for Tech and Civic Life. The nonprofit group gave funds to cities around the country using hundreds of millions of dollars provided by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Courts have rejected three lawsuits over the grants, but conservatives have filed new complaints over them with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The commission consists of three Republicans and three Democrats.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.