Wisconsin audits found elections to be “safe and secure”

Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — A long-awaited nonpartisan audit of Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election, released Friday, did not identify widespread fraud in fierce battle states.

A report from the nonpartisan legislative audit agency made dozens of recommendations on how the state could improve elections. We also confirmed that the dozens of voting machines we reviewed were working properly. Some conservatives want reviews of all voting machines.

“Despite concerns about state-wide election procedures, this audit showed that elections were generally safe and secure,” said the State Legislature’s Audit Committee, which appointed the Audit Office to conduct the review. Republican Senator Robert Cowles, co-chair, tweeted. “We hope that these nonpartisan recommendations will allow us to consider changes in election law and institutional accountability measures in a bipartisan way.”

Audits did not provide evidence that President Joe Biden’s winning election was “stolen” by Donald Trump, as Trump and some conservatives falsely claimed. Biden’s approximately 21,000-vote victory over Trump in Wisconsin has withstood recounts and multiple court decisions.

Democrats welcomed the audit as evidence that the elections were safe, secure, and accurate, but said they were afraid that Republicans would screen the findings to instill distrust.

The Audit Office’s report identified inconsistent management of election law based on a state-wide ballot survey. Made 30 recommendations for consideration by the Wisconsin Election Commission and 18 possible legislative amendments to be considered by the Legislature.

Republican Senator Kathy Bernier, a former county election clerk and current chairman of the Senate Election Commission, said the audit “did not reveal a significant or systematic attempt at voter fraud.” But it showed “sloppy” and inconsistent election management that had to be dealt with, she said.

Republican Rep. Samantha Kerkman, co-chair of other audit committees, said the report would serve as a parliamentary “blueprint” for addressing identified areas where current election legislation is not being followed. Stated.

“Regaining confidence in the election process is very important,” she said.

As a rare move, state auditors did not give the election commissioners to be reviewed the opportunity to respond and did not include their comments as part of the report. The Audit Office said it did not seek comment because so many people were involved in the audit. It would have jeopardized the confidentiality of its business.

Megan Wolff, director of the Wisconsin Election Commission, which oversees state elections, called the move “missed an opportunity,” and authorities still reviewed the 168-page report to decide what to do. He said he was doing it.

This report is one of two studies conducted in Wisconsin.

Republican Wisconsin State Capitol Chairman Robin Vos Ordered a second investigation After Trump criticized him for being too few to scrutinize the election. The investigation is overseen by former Wisconsin Supreme Court judge Michael Gableman, who said he believed the election was stolen last year.

Mr Voss said the audit indicated that further investigation into the election was needed.

On Thursday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul urged the court to block the subpoena issued by Gableman, the state’s chief election officer. The judge set up a hearing on Monday upon request.

Gableman did not immediately respond to a message asking for comment on Friday.

Wisconsin Several states under investigation For the 2020 presidential election.

According to the audit, the Election Commission needs to issue rules that require legislative approval, such as whether local election clerks can fill out missing information on absentee ballots or allow drop boxes. It is said that there is.

The audit reviewed a sample of 14,710 absentee ballots cast in 29 municipalities in Wisconsin. We found that almost 7%, or 1,022 votes, were partially signed by witnesses. Only 15 votes did not have the full witness address. Eight were unsigned by witnesses and three were unsigned by voters.

State law also requires clerks to write initials on absentee ballots in certain circumstances, but less than 1% of the ballots reviewed were initials.

The audit also found only 24 people who could have two valid voter registrations, and four of them who could have voted twice. The names of the four people who were not included in the audit summary could be referred to the Election Commission and transferred to a local prosecutor.

The findings support the fact that there are few cases of fraudulent elections in Wisconsin. To date, only four have been submitted. Includes men who have been accused of voting twice. It was not immediately clear whether the man’s case was among the four cases found by the audit.

Wisconsin audits found elections to be “safe and secure”

Source link Wisconsin audits found elections to be “safe and secure”

The post Wisconsin audits found elections to be “safe and secure” appeared first on Illinois News Today.