MADISON, WIS. (AP) — Moving past the turmoil surrounding the 2020 election results in the battleground state, Wisconsin’s election commission leader quietly confirmed Donald Trump’s victory on Friday.
In a six-minute Zoom call this morning, Commission Chair Ann Jacobs certified findings showing Trump won the state with 1,697,626 votes compared to Democrat Kamala Harris’ 1,668,229 ballots.
Compared to the aftermath of the 2020 election, when Trump refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the state by over 21,000 votes, the certification felt almost anticlimactic.
The outcome remained unchanged despite Trump forcing a recount in the state’s two Democratic strongholds, Dane and Milwaukee counties. Later, Trump filed a lawsuit to have over 221,000 ballots in the two counties declared invalid. He sought to disqualify absentee ballots cast in person and early, claiming that no formal written request had been made for them; absentee ballots cast by individuals who claimed to be indefinitely confined; absentee ballots collected by poll workers at Madison parks; and absentee ballots in which clerks completed ballot envelopes with missing information.
In December 2020, the state Supreme Court dismissed the case, concluding that one of Trump’s claims lacked validity and that four of his claims were filed too late. That same month, two Republican lawmakers, voting rights organizations, and others filed a second lawsuit to overturn the results, but a federal judge dismissed it.
In the spring of 2021, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, under pressure from Trump, appointed former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to look into claims of election-related fraud and abuse.
In the end, the probe found nothing. During the investigation, Gableman was accused of breaking several norms of conduct by the state Office of Lawyer Regulation, which filed a complaint against him last week. What penalties, if any, Gableman will get will be determined by the state Supreme Court.
electoral doubters and conspiracy theorists wrongly accused Meagan Wolfe, the nonpartisan administrator of the electoral commission, of being involved in a scheme to rig the 2020 election in favor of Biden. The commission has launched a lawsuit to keep her in her position despite Republican lawmakers’ attempts to dismiss her. The state Supreme Court is currently considering that matter.
Although conservative ire has subsided since Trump’s national victory in November, a loud segment of the GOP is still very dubious of election procedures, especially the use of mail ballots and vote-counting scanners. However, in recent weeks, a number of states—including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico—that saw turbulent certifications during the 2020 election and 2022 elections have successfully approved their results.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!