GOP election official tells legislators no ‘credible evidence of large-scale voter fraud’ during November election

MADISON – A Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission told a joint legislative committee Friday that he has “not seen credible evidence of large-scale voter fraud in Wisconsin during the November election.”

“There were no dumps of ballots during the night, none,” Dean Knudson told the panel looking into the conduct of the Nov. 3 election that Democrat Joe Biden won by about 21,000 votes over President Donald Trump.

“There is no evidence of any fraud related to Dominion voting machines in Wisconsin,” Knudson said. “Counting in Wisconsin did not stop and restart. Election observers were allowed to be present throughout election day and election night proceedings. The number of voters on our poll books match the number of ballots cast.

“There has been no criminal evidence presented to the elections commission that any of these problems occurred in Wisconsin,” he said.

Knudson’s testimony came early in a hearing, with the witness list heavily weighted toward Trump’s allies and partisans.

Most Democrats watched virtually, failed in an attempt to get witnesses to testify under oath, argued they weren’t being given time to pose questions and began bolting the hearing at around noon.

“This hearing is a sham,” said state Rep. Lisa Subek, D-Madison.

Knudson called for the Legislature to clarify laws and “reduce future controversy over election processes.”

Knudson said the statute needs to be tightened regarding who qualifies as an indefinitely confined voter, voter registration lists have to be cleaned up and absentee ballot delivery should be clarified.

He also called for major reform of central ballot counting, where in a city like Milwaukee, absentee ballots are counted in a central location and not at the precinct level, leading to delays in vote totals. 

“This system was fatally flawed on election night,” he said.

Central counting locations for absentee ballots were used in three dozen municipalities throughout the state.

State Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, chair of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, said at the outset: “Wisconsin deserves a 100% transparent election system where no one is asked to trust without the ability to verify.”

“Sadly, many in Wisconsin may have reasonable doubts about the accuracy and impartiality of this election,” he said.

Tusler said more than 6,000 individuals contacted his office, while more than 158,000 individuals contacted 35 legislative offices over concerns about the election.

“I challenge you to set aside your political beliefs,” he said, adding “take off your red hat, or your blue hat and be a neutral juror in this committee.”

Tusler said his committee will recommend that the Legislative Audit Bureau should audit Milwaukee County’s election results and that the Wisconsin Elections Commission “must amend its manual to remove illegal procedures.”

“And all cases of election fraud must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said.

Tom Sylke, an attorney who worked for the Trump team during the recount in Milwaukee County, told the committee, “Wisconsin’s electoral house is on fire.”

“Voters can accept losing if they trust the integrity of an election,” he added. “But what they cannot and will not accept or tolerate is an election process that is either so flawed or so susceptible to corruption that election results cannot be trusted.”

Sylke said at the Milwaukee recount there was a “very adversarial viewpoint to one candidate, President Trump.”

Republicans a month ago said they wanted to subpoena election officials — something that hasn’t happened in decades — but ultimately didn’t allow them to come before the committees to defend themselves. They haven’t explained why they changed course. 

The committee heard from a conservative radio talk show host, and planned to hear from a former state Supreme Court justice and a postal subcontractor who has said postal workers were told to backdate absentee ballots, even though doing so wouldn’t allow any additional ballots to be counted.

The hearing follows ones Republicans have held in other states that Biden narrowly won. The hearings have drawn praise from Trump’s supporters for putting a spotlight on how the election was run. They have attracted ridicule and a “Saturday Night Live” skit from critics. 

Tusler this week said he wouldn’t say who he thought won Wisconsin’s election until after Friday’s hearing, and he might be willing to try to have legislators switch the state’s Electoral College slate.

Another Republican committee member, Rep. Janel Brandtjen of Menomonee Falls, this week said she thought Trump had won Wisconsin and believed the election could lead to revolt. Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of New Berlin, another Republican on the committee, last month raised the idea of having lawmakers change the state’s slate of electors. 

It is not clear how legislators could do that because state law requires Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to sign off on the slate of electors, and he has already approved a slate for Biden.

GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester last month said he did not believe the Legislature’s findings would change the results of the election. But more recently he said he has heard “numerous concerns” about how the election was run. 

Rep. Mark Spreitzer, a Beloit Democrat on Tusler’s committee, chalked up Vos’ recent tone to his visit to the White House for a Christmas party.

“His rhetoric has shifted much more in line with the Trump rhetoric and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he just got back from the White House,” Spreitzer said. 

Vos spokeswoman Kit Beyer said Vos had not been contacted by Trump or his team about the hearing or changing Wisconsin’s electoral votes.

Since losing the election, Trump has raised numerous questions about Wisconsin’s election. He has argued virtually all early in-person voting in Wisconsin was illegal and claimed clerks had broken the law by setting up absentee ballot drop boxes. 

He has also contended clerks should not have filled in the addresses of witnesses on absentee ballot envelopes, as they were told they could under state guidance issued four years ago. Republicans on the state Elections Commission put forward that advice. 

Trump also has alleged some voters improperly claimed they were indefinitely confined because of age or disability — a status that allowed them to vote absentee without providing a copy of a photo ID. The state has long left it to voters to determine for themselves when they qualify as indefinitely confined. 

Election officials have said they followed state law and no courts have sided with Trump or his backers in Wisconsin so far. Four lawsuits have been thrown out in a little over a week, but two others are ongoing. 

For Friday’s hearing, the Republicans did not ask for testimony from Meagan Wolfe, the director of the state Elections Commission, or Claire Woodall-Vogg, the director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Woodall-Vogg said the Republicans and their staffs have not been in touch with her over the last month as they were conducting what they called an investigation of how the election was run.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

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