The Wisconsin Assembly reportedly authorized an investigation of the November 2020 presidential elections after votes cast show it is .63% or 20,682 more than the actual number recorded that President Joe Biden won the state with.
The Daily Wire said the resolution authorizing the investigation forcing the state into a recount gives Republicans the "authority to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and gather documents" based on Assembly Elections and Campaign Committee Vice Chairman Representative Joe Sanfelippo.
Meanwhile, US News reported that the resolution was passed on Tuesday a month after state Republicans ordered the election results be audited considering a partial recount and lawsuits by former President Donald Trump has been rejected by state and national courts amidst audits on the voting machines and recounts did not show any problems.
US News cited Sanfelippo in saying during the conference last Tuesday that "it was in everyone's best interest" that the resolution was past and hoped that there won't be any need to send anyone a subpoena to testify. While Assembly Speaker Robin Vos added that it also intends "to see if any other issues are raised that need to be considered," especially since the investigation will be held more public than the election audit conducted.
This was contradicted by Democrats, particularly Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, who raised that the resolution was against the "public's trust and faith in elections."
In addition, US News said that the Assembly Elections Commitee also held a hearing on the issues raised by Republicans last month regarding the administration of elections in Green Bay and Brown County. The hearing did not call on election officials to testify on accusations against them, such as Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich who "defended his city's handling of the election" against the hearing whom he labeled as a "Stalinist show trial."
In line with the resolution for the election's investigations, US News disclosed that Assembly Republicans have also lined up a set of bills related to the elections designed to address the issues raised by Trump and his supporters related to absentee balloting and absentee voters. A bill prohibiting "election officials from completing missing information on the certification envelopes returned by voters that contain absentee ballots" is also intended to be presented.
According to the Wisconsin State Legislature website, the proposed legislation are as follows:
- Assembly Bill 194 or "an act to amend, to create the statutes, relating to actions for violations of election laws";
- Assembly Bill 192 or "an act to amend, to create, and relating to the secure delivery of absentee ballots and providing a penalty";
- Assembly Bill 180 or "an act to amend, to created, and relating to the "status as an indefinitely confined voter for purposes of receiving absentee ballots automatically and providing a penalty";
- Assembly Bill 178 or "an act to renumber and amend, to create, and relating to applications for absentee ballots"; and
- Assembly Bill 177 or "an act to renumber and amend, to create, and relating to "returning absentee ballots to the office of the municipal clerk."
The Website also presented that the State Assembly is composed of 60 Republicans and 38 Democrats where eight Republicans take the lead, providing claims of it being controlled by the latter such as one reported by the Associated Press.
The Associated Press said the "Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly" passed the resolution on a "58-35 party line vote, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats against it."
"Republicans said they wanted to gather more evidence to see if laws were broken, but Democrats said they were trying to score political points, undermining the public's faith in elections and insulting election clerks, poll workers and others who ran the election," the Daily Wire quoted the Associated Press in reporting on the matter.
A similar incident has happened mid-March in Michigan where a court ruling said the secretary of state broke law on absentee ballots that vindicated Trump on the issue of voter fraud alongside various states still looking into election irregularities on Biden's winning.
