(PresidentialInsider.com)- Wisconsin is taking action to investigate the 2020 presidential election in their state.
This week, the state Assembly, which is controlled by Republicans, passed a resolution that authorized an investigation into the election, which President Joe Biden won narrowly.
Democrats opposed the resolution, not surprisingly. It gives committee authorization to issue subpoenas as well as gather documents and compel testimony if it decides to do so.
Representative Joe Sanfelippo is the vice chairman of the Assembly’s elections and campaign committee that would be conducting the investigation. He said he hopes that the committee wouldn’t need to use the subpoena power that it now has, saying:
“I would expect that we really don’t have to come to that. I can’t understand why any elected official in the state would not want to talk openly and publicly about the administration of elections in their areas.”
Last month, Republicans in the state ordered that the election results be audited. Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by less than 21,000 votes in the state of Wisconsin. There was a partial recount that affirmed the results.
There were also various lawsuits that were brought by Trump allies alleging wrongdoing, but federal and state courts both rejected those claims.
But Republicans raised new questions about how the state election was conducted in both Brown County and Green Bay. The elections committee held a hearing on those issues, but they didn’t invite any election official who was accused of wrongdoing to testify before them.
The mayor of Green Bay, Eric Genrich, said the whole situation was a “Stalinist show trial,” defending how his city handled the 2020 presidential election in the meantime.
This new resolution from the Wisconsin Assembly accuses election officials in the state of jeopardizing the results by “failing to adhere” to and even encouraging people not to comply with state election laws. It also directed the committee to investigate any election that took place after January 1, 2019.
As Sanfelippo said:
“This is important because over the past year, year and a half, we’ve heard allegations of improprieties not being done, specifically state laws on the books not being followed.”
During debate over the resolution, state Representative Mark Spreitzer had some strong words. He said:
“The underlying resolution makes some very serious claims. I take great objection to the characterization of our election officials. That would be our clerks, our poll workers … our national guard.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos promised that while much of the investigation would take place behind closed doors, the public will be informed of what happens. He said:
“The auditors go out and look for the information. They don’t necessarily have the public hearings or receive the public input. They’re going to do the behind the scenes work, which is very valuable. We’d like to have one that is a more public process where people can actually come in and we can do a better job investigating than just having a simple hearing.”
