Wisconsin GOP lawmaker takes first step toward launching Arizona-style election review

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Election administrators and election security experts, as well as Republican election officials and provincial supervisors in Maricopa, have almost worldwide ridiculed the process as an amateurish fishing expedition rooted in baseless Trump’s conspiracy about the 2020 election. The Arizona review has also been engulfed by problems recently, as it takes months past its originally intended completion date.

Ken Bennett, a former Republican secretary of state in Arizona who served as a “liaison” for the state Senate, threatened to leave after being locked in the facility where the review was conducted. Eventually he changed his mind and decided to stay. The state Senate is also fighting to keep private some records that a judge ordered them to turn over.

Brandtjen, who visited Arizona earlier this year, calls the process he initiates an audit: I issue these subpoenas as a first step toward a full, cyber-forensic audit of tabulators and inspections of physical ballots since the November 2020 fall elections, he said in a statement.

The Brandtjen subpoenas issued in Wisconsin seek a wide range of materials, ranging from physical ballots, to tabulation equipment and forensic images of election equipment.

It is not yet clear whether the subpoenas are valid, however. The state Assembly passed a resolution in March directing Brandtjen’s committee to investigate the election. But the Wisconsin state Legislative Council wrote in a memo to a Democratic state representative, previously shared with BuzzFeed News, that while the committee was allowed to investigate, subpoenas must be signed by a chamber speaker.

The subpoenas posted by Brandtjen, and a copy of the subpoena sent to one of the counties and reviewed by POLITICO, were not featured in the signature of State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

Vos, a Republican, had previously been critical of Brandtjen, and PBS Wisconsin reported that he refused to say whether Vos supported the subpoenas. A spokesman for Vos did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first noted that Vos’ signature did not appear on the subpoenas.

The Wisconsin Election Commission, the top election officials, recently sued Brandtjen for spreading false information about the states elections.

His efforts are advancing at the same time as an investigation blessed by Vos, who tapped former state Supreme Court justice as a special adviser to run an investigation into the 2020 election. The state Legislative Audit Bureau is also conducts its own analysis.

Jeff Flynt, the Brown County deputy executive, confirmed the county clerk received the subpoena and said we are reviewing the subpoena at this time. The Milwaukee County clerk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump supporters, initiated by the former president himself, have tried to spread Arizona -style -wrapped reviews across the country, often citing Trump’s lies about the election being stolen or manipulated. A close ally of Trump in Pennsylvania, state Senator Doug Mastriano, is also trying to launch his own effort there.

A recent investigation led by Republican state senators in Michigan, another state that has been the subject of Trump’s fix, found no signs of fraud in the state. “Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident that the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan,” the report concludes. Trump subsequently attacked the report’s top author.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice recently issued a sharp warning to states attempting to conduct ballot reviews after the election or audit. In a memo, the department highlighted that state and local governments allowing ballots from the federal election mandandle would violate federal law.

Election audits are very rare. But the Department is concerned that some jurisdictions that conduct them may be using, or proposing to use, methods that threaten to violate the Civil Rights Act, read the memo, released last week.

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