MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly planned to pass a resolution Tuesday that would authorize an investigation into the 2020 presidential election that President Joe Biden narrowly won in the state.
The resolution, opposed by Democrats, is needed to give the committee authorization if it decides to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and gather documents, said Rep. Joe Sanfelippo. He is vice-chairman of the Assembly elections and campaign committee that would conduct the probe.
Voting to authorize an investigation comes after Republicans last month ordered an audit of the election results. Biden defeated Donald Trump by fewer than 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. The election outcome was affirmed by a partial recount and several lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies alleging wrongdoing were rejected by state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. No significant problems were found with the state’s voting machines after audits and recounts in both 2016 and in 2020.
Earlier this month, Republicans raised new questions about how the election was administered in Green Bay and Brown County. The Assembly elections committee held a hearing on those issues, but did not invite any election officials accused of wrongdoing to testify. Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich called it a “Stalinist show trial” and defended his city’s handling of the election.
Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz said the Assembly committee investigation was an attempt to undermine the public’s trust and faith in elections.
Sanfelippo said at a news conference Tuesday that he hoped the committee would not need to subpoena anyone to testify. He said it was in everyone’s best interests to be open and forthcoming.
Assembly Republicans have also introduced a series of election-related bills that would address many of the issues raised by Trump and his supporters. The bills would limit the number of ballot drop boxes; require absentee voters to provide an ID for every election; limit who can automatically receive absentee ballots for every election; prohibit election officials from completing missing information on the certification envelopes returned by voters that contain absentee ballots. and create more paperwork for those who vote early in clerk’s offices.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he wanted to proceed with the investigation, which would be more public than the audit, to see if any other issues are raised that need to be considered.
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