Republicans filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the
Wisconsin Supreme Court to block certification of the presidential
election results even as a recount over Joe Biden’s apparent win over
President Donald Trump is ongoing.
The lawsuit echoes many of the same arguments Trump is making in
trying, unsuccessfully, to have tens of thousands of ballots discounted
during the recount. It also seeks to give the power to name presidential
electors to the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Wisconsin state law allows the political parties to pick electors,
which was done in October. Once the election results are certified (it's
scheduled to be done Dec. 1), those pre-determined electors will cast
their ballots for the winner on Dec. 14.
“The litigation filed this afternoon seeks to disenfranchise every
Wisconsinite who voted in this year’s presidential election,” said
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. “The Wisconsin Department of
Justice will ensure that Wisconsin’s presidential electors are selected
based on the will of the more than 3 million Wisconsin voters who cast a
ballot.”
The lawsuit also rehashes a claim that a federal court rejected in
September that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to “illegally
circumvent Wisconsin absentee voting laws” through grants awarded by a
nonprofit center he funds.
At least 10 cases have been filed across the country seeking to halt
certification in parts or all of key battleground states, including
lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign in Michigan and Pennsylvania. So
far none have been successful.
Wisconsin’s election results are scheduled to be certified Dec. 1.
The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed by attorney Erick Kaardal, a former
Minnesota Republican Party official who also represented rapper Kanye
West in his unsuccessful lawsuit attempting to get on the ballot in
Wisconsin. Kaardal represents a conservative group called the Wisconsin
Voters Alliance and a host of Republican voters.
Kaardal also filed an unsuccessful federal lawsuit in Wisconsin that
attempted to block $6.3 million from being awarded to five heavily
Democratic cities from the nonprofit Center for Technology and Civic
Life, which is primarily funded by Zuckerberg and his wife. A judge
tossed the lawsuit that argued the money amounted to bribery to bolster
Democratic turnout in Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee and Racine.
Many of the same arguments alleging the money was illegally awarded
and therefore the election results should be nullified are being made in
the new lawsuit in state court.
Other claims mirror those by Trump’s campaign. Those claims allege
absentee ballots should not have been counted where election officials
filled in missing information on the certification envelope that
contains the ballot and that voters who identified as “indefinitely
confined” were lying to avoid the state’s photo ID law.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission advises clerks that they can fill
in missing information on the ballot envelopes, such as the address of a
witness. That’s been the practice for years, and it’s never been
challenged.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court this spring affirmed the state elections
commission’s guidance that it’s up to each voter to decide whether they
are indefinitely confined. More than 215,000 voters this year said they
were confined, which allows them to cast a ballot without having to
present a photo ID. The lawsuit says more than 96,000 self-identified
confined voters should not count.
Biden won Wisconsin by 20,608 votes, but the lawsuit claims that more than 156,000 ballots should be tossed out.
The lawsuit alleges that more than 14,000 ballots “requested in the
name of a registered Republican by someone other than that person” were
cast and that more than 12,000 “Republican ballots” were returned but
not counted. People do not register to vote by political party in
Wisconsin so it is impossible to know how many Republicans or Democrats
requested absentee ballots.
The lawsuit comes as the recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties has
resulted in very few vote changes. As of Tuesday morning, Trump had
gained just 57 votes. Trump paid for a recount in only the two counties
with the largest numbers of Democratic votes.
Nearly 400 absentee ballots cast in Milwaukee that were not opened on
Election Day were discovered Tuesday, a mistake that the city’s top
elections official attributed to human error. The county board of
canvassers voted unanimously to count the ballots as part of the
recount, which must be done by Dec. 1.