MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – In the wake of the last week's election, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called for a statewide investigation of the election but gave little detail as to why.
Now, State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo (R-New Berlin), who backs the effort, explains some of the caucus' allegations and why an investigation of the electoral process is being called for.
“I'm not saying at this point that our whole election was a fraud and it's not true,” Sanfelippo said. “We don't know that.”
If votes were somehow counted that weren't supposed to be, Sanfelippo said he wouldn't rule out calling for a new election.
“In that instance, what I think you probably need to do is toss out the results of this election and have another election,” Sanfelippo said.
If less significant fraud was discovered, Sanfelippo wouldn't rule out calling for Wisconsin to change its electoral votes either.
Sanfelippo is among a group of Republicans with a laundry list of what they are calling irregularities, including a spike in the number of voters who consider themselves indefinitely confined.
“What that does is that negates the need for voter identification,” Sanfelippo said.
The number of indefinitely confined voters more than doubled between 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. However, Associate Professor Robert Yablon with the University of Wisconsin Law School said there is not much to litigate.
“Given that this was effectively something that election officials signed off on before the fact, you know I would be surprised if you get any significant legal claims related to voters who were classified as indefinitely confined,” Yablon said.
Sanfelippo also accused the City of Madison of violating early voting laws.
“Madison decided to do it earlier on their own by holding these voting locations in city parks staffed with poll workers,” Sanfelippo said.
GOP lawmakers threatened legal action when the 'Democracy in the Park' events were scheduled leading up to the election, but no lawsuit was ever filed. Madison City Attorney Mike Haas, who used to be the administrator of the state Elections Commission, said those events were legal because no one was issued a ballot.
“It seemed to be a great way for people to return the ballots, so they would go to the election official directly, they would be locked up, and secured and then counted on Election Day,” Haas said.
Some lawmakers are also accusing the Wisconsin Elections Commission of violating the law by not deactivating more than 230,000 registered voters who Sanfelippo said could not be verified.
In February, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled the Elections Commission could not remove voters from the registration list.
The case was argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in September, but no ruling has been made so far.
In a statement Tuesday, Wisconsin's chief election official double-downed on the legitimacy of the election, dispelling several myths about election fraud.
“When issues are reported to our office, we take them very seriously,” Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator, said. “We look into each allegation and request evidence from parties involved. At this time, no evidence has been provided that supports allegations of systemic or widespread election issues.”
Still, Sanfelippo is worried people won't vote if they can't trust the process.
“Your guy may not always be the winner, but at least you know there's an honest process in place,” Sanfelippo said. “I mean we're a nation of laws. The minute we start deciding that we'll follow some laws but disregard some others, the very fabric of our country starts to fall apart.”
Though Republicans are requesting an audit and review of the results, that is happening now as it always has.
The Elections Commission randomly picks polling places to audit and county canvassing boards are reviewing ballots and tabulations.
Both processes can be observed by the public.