Why Republicans Won’t End Election Complaints
It’s no longer about electing Trump. It’s laying the groundwork for voter suppression.

City of Milwaukee election staff, including executive director Claire Woodall-Vogg (seated). Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
For six weeks, President Donald Trump has been hammering the message that his obvious election defeat — by seven million votes and a significant electoral college majority — was a fraud. No court has accepted this claim and no evidence of this has been presented, yet Trump has suggested his fight against the election may prove to be his “single greatest achievement.”
How can such an embarrassing, often comic campaign be a success? Because it lays the groundwork “for GOP politicians and judges to further one of their party’s and the conservative movement’s most important ongoing projects: restricting voting rights. Trump lost this election, but he can still help Republicans win in the future,” as attorney and journalist Jay Willis has written.
In Wisconsin you could see that process play out under the contradictory leadership of Rep. Ron Tusler (R-Harrison), co-chair of the Legislature’s Committee on Campaigns and Elections. Tusler initially came off as a sober-minded statesman, who said it was extremely unlikely an investigation by his committee would find reasons to overturn Democrat Joe Biden‘s lead of more than 20,000 votes in Wisconsin.
“What matters most is public confidence,” he said “This is all about transparency, it’s all about just trying to help people understand what happened in this election.”
Tusler said he wanted to hear from many folks, from the head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Meagan Wolfe, along with poll workers, poll observers and voters about the election. It had the sound of an expert, fact-finding hearing.
What instead transpired on Friday was a circus of bizarre claims and conspiracy theories. The lead speaker was a radio entertainer, right-wing radio host talk show host Dan O’Donnell, whose job is to rile up listeners with no requirement that he substantiate his claims.
Much of the ensuing eight hours of testimony “came from anonymous stories or disgruntled citizens who didn’t like where employees doing the recount were standing or the fact that they were forced to be socially distanced. Speaker after speaker made it clear that they believe, without evidence, that mail-in ballots were riddled with fraud,” as Melanie Conklin reported for the Wisconsin Examiner.
The speakers accused the poll workers of committing felonies. “Other villains… singled out were nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission staff, elections county and municipal clerks, Milwaukee voters, Mark Zuckerberg, the media, Democrats, the National Conference of State Legislature and the U.S. Postal Service,” Conklin reported.
Truth was not the goal. “When Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) asked for people who were testifying to take an oath that they would tell the truth, he was shot down immediately by Senate co-chair Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls).”
As for Wolfe and staff of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, as for the workers at 1,850 municipalities in Wisconsin who worked so hard to process the election, they weren’t invited to testify.
Back when Scott Walker was governor this entire spectacle would have been unnecessary. Republican legislators could pass voting laws with restrictions meant to depress the Democratic turnout, and Democrats couldn’t stop it. Back then Republicans tried to limit the discussion about elections and pass any legislation as quietly as possible. But now that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers can veto legislation, they need to convince the majority of voters in this state that widespread fraud is going on, which therefore requires draconian voting rules.
And that’s not an easy case to make. Polls show the majority of Americans believe Biden was honestly elected. The reality is that absentee, mail-in voting was a massive success, making it easier to vote for both Republican and Democratic voters, and driving the highest election turnout in more than a century.
In fact, it’s far from clear that elections by mail favor Democrats, but Graham and other Republicans are scared to death of it. In Wisconsin, Republicans are so convinced they can’t win a fair vote that they are willing to suppress their own voters, so long as it’s likely to suppress a greater number of Democratic voters.
And so you’re going to hear over and over the unproven accusation that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud and that steps must be taken, sweeping legislation must to be passed in order to prevent this. That’s what Tusler’s hearing was all about. Republicans are fearful not just of Democrats, but of democracy.
More about the 2020 General Election
- GOP State Legislators Asked Pence Not Certify Election - Melanie Conklin - Jan 14th, 2021
- Rep. Hintz: Condemns Republican Legislators’ Lies and Dangerous Rhetoric - State Rep. Gordon Hintz - Jan 14th, 2021
- Tiffany, Fitzgerald Object To Some Biden Electors - Shawn Johnson - Jan 7th, 2021
- Sen. Baldwin: “It’s Disgraceful” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep Moore Blames Trump for Today’s Chaos - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep. Gallagher: “We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Back in the News: Cleta Mitchell Resigns from Foley Firm - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Gallagher Assails GOP Push to Nullify Election - Rob Mentzer - Jan 5th, 2021
- Back in the News: Foley Firm Faces Blowback on Trump Call - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Johnson Discusses Election Integrity, Electoral Commission on Fox News - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson - Jan 5th, 2021
Read more about 2020 General Election here
More about the Trump's Election Lawsuits
- Federal Judge Tears Apart Election Lawsuit - Graham Kilmer - Jan 4th, 2021
- Op Ed: Hagedorn Wisconsin’s Person of The Year - John Torinus - Dec 30th, 2020
- Trump Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Wisconsin’s Election - Graham Kilmer - Dec 29th, 2020
- Trump campaign: Takes Wisconsin constitutional fight to Supreme Court - Donald Trump - Dec 29th, 2020
- Wisconsin Republicans Join New Federal Election Lawsuit - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 23rd, 2020
- Justices Face Anti-Semitic, Misogynist Attacks After Trump Ruling - Ruth Conniff - Dec 18th, 2020
- Ron Johnson Parrots Trump’s Rejected Legal Arguments - Shawn Johnson - Dec 17th, 2020
- Murphy’s Law: Why Republicans Won’t End Election Complaints - Bruce Murphy - Dec 14th, 2020
- Statement of Republican Electors Meeting - Republican Party of Wisconsin - Dec 14th, 2020
- AG Kaul Issues Statement on Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling on the Challenge to Wisconsin’s Election Results - Josh Kaul - Dec 14th, 2020
Read more about Trump's Election Lawsuits here
That is unless the media does its job of establishing the process in simple accurate terms. How registration works All ballots must equal the number of people who voted, The Dem’s / media could go a step further that would give accountants an added job after each election They would randomly review so many wards in each jurisdiction and apply a simple equation Verified Ballots printed – Ballots sent out (absentee and military)+ ballots returned -ballots used in early voting + ballots voted – ballots used on election day + ballots voted = Ballots left over Then to take one race maybe the closest one and count all the ballots by hand to confirm that the counting process was correct for every machine in at least the one race. Now that should take not that long to review the work of the clerks and provide an added level of certainty. ALWAYS paper ballots that get counted by hand for verification of the machine programing.
Peace
PS I think the math is right and if not make the proper calculations
This voter suppression needs to be become part of the Democratic narrative with comparisons to Bull Connor in Alabama with his police dogs, whips, and clubs that were used to beat up the persons participating in voting rights marches the 60s.
“In Wisconsin, Republicans are so convinced they can’t win a fair vote that they are willing to suppress their own voters, so long as it’s likely to suppress a greater number of Democratic voters.”
Truer words were never spoken.
Protecting free and fair elections has now more than ever become a necessary part of being a citizen.