Madison – State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) released the following statement regarding materials that will be requested by the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee in the coming days in order to undertake a more thorough investigation of the 2020 fall election:
“The people of Wisconsin deserve to know the truth about the 2020 election. The state of Wisconsin allows 22 months after an election to investigate irregularities, and 2020 had plenty of them. I appreciate the legislative efforts to restore confidence in our election system, and support the complementary investigative efforts underway to look into localized concerns. However, it is clear that further action is warranted by the Assembly Campaigns and Elections committee to look into the broader issues that have been raised, and I am grateful for the support of my colleagues in this effort. It is understandable that private citizens and citizen groups have been seeking to conduct their own investigations that their elected representatives have failed to do, but it is important that they be conducted in the most transparent and coordinated way possible.
The amount of absentee voting taking place has exposed issues surrounding ballot curing, ‘indefinitely confined’ electors, ballot harvesting and how our tabulators actually work. As I’ve traveled around our state as Chair of the Campaigns and Elections committee, voters have made it clear that they want a thorough, cyber-forensic examination of tabulators, ballot marking devices and other election equipment, which I will be helping facilitate on behalf of the committee as the chair. The questionable dissemination and application of guidance by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the repeated failure to follow state elections law by liberal partisan clerks, and the recent revelation of the tens of thousands of new registrations and votes cast by individuals whose driver’s license number, name, and date of birth did not match and were subsequently removed from the state system after their votes were recorded, are simply outrageous. I think these are legitimate concerns, and our oversight has not kept up with current election technology.
IP addresses, chain of custody on ballots and audit trail logs must be thoroughly inspected by cyber-audit technicians in order to provide confidence for voters in our elections, both completed and upcoming. While Wisconsin is in the process of an election audit, I will be working to ensure that it is augmented with the expertise and resources to ensure a comprehensive, forensic examination. It is critical that the legislature realize the full extent of our current oversight shortcomings on elections.
It is clear there are those who continue to oppose more rigorous examinations of election materials in favor of moving on, or were not displeased with the results of the November 2020 election. However, if Wisconsin is to have a credible election system, we must keep up with the technology and perform a full forensic and transparent audit. It is incumbent upon myself and the Campaigns and Elections committee to ensure the records essential to the most rigorous and intensive review are made available to the professionals with the greatest capability to conduct it, and increase election process transparency, in order for the public’s confidence to be assured, and that is exactly what I will do.”
The items requested fall within the existing public records retention and investigatory authority vested in the Campaigns and Elections oversight committee chaired by Rep. Brandtjen.
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