MADISON, Wis. — Clerks and election officials have maintained the November election was conducted according to law, but they were unable to testify that to the state joint legislative committee looking into the election.
They weren’t invited.
Instead the Republican co-chairs of a joint committee on elections invited a slate of partisans to talk about claims of fraud and malpractice without bringing evidence at a hearing on Friday.
After three hours, the Democrats on the committee left, calling the hearing a sham.
Four Democrats have left the joint committee on elections meeting. They called the investigation and hearing a sham.
— Amy Reid (@amyreidreports) December 11, 2020
“Four thousand people have died in this state, and we’re wasting our time on hearsay and conjecture about elections instead of helping people who are sick and dying in this state is an embarrassment,” said Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Eau Claire.
The hearing began with testimony from Dan O’Donnell, a conservative radio talk show host. From there, conservative lawyers and Trump campaign election and recount observers said clerks didn’t follow the law in administering the election, making the claims without evidence.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell was the only clerk on the roster. Co-chair Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, said he was invited after a Democrat on the committee requested it.
McDonell was the very last person to speak, more than six hours after the hearing started.
I don’t think I am going to called to testify anytime soon…
— Scott McDonell (@samcdonell) December 11, 2020
“I wish you had invited more election officials,” he told the committee.
McDonell affirmed that Dane County had followed the law for both the election and the recount. He said the concerns people brought up during the meeting should be addressed with fine tuning from the legislature.
Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Dean Knudson, a Republican, also spoke at the hearing and said no claims of fraud had been formally submitted to the commission. He told members that anyone who brought forward claims during the hearing should submit them through the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Knudson offered the committee suggestions for reform, such as getting rid of central counting of absentee ballots, a method some communities, including Milwaukee, use instead of having absentee ballots counted at individual wards.
“Biden surged ahead of Trump when the Milwaukee absentee votes were reported in the early morning hours,” Knudson said. “This time that delay caused more than confusion, it destroyed confidence in our election.”
Before Democrats walked out they questioned the integrity of the hearing and its billing as an investigation, citing concerns over the lack of set-aside time for asking speakers questions.
Republicans said it was about hearing from the public.
“I don’t need to be heard on every issue,” said co-chair Rep. Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls. “I don’t need to question everything people say. I’m taking notes, and I am making sure that we do follow through and address many of these concerns and find out what is fact and what is fiction.”
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