Republican Lawmakers Argue Over Election Reforms, WEC Talks of Election ‘Conspiracies’

“My question is simple: What are Robin Vos and Kathy Bernier afraid of?” - Rep. Janel Brandtjen

No one is any closer to an agreement on just what happened during the 2020 election in Wisconsin after the latest election hearing at the Capitol.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission testified before the Assembly’s Committee on Campaigns and Elections.

“A lot of the concerns about the November 2020 presidential election are based on assumptions that lack full understanding of election policies, laws, and technologies. Other concerns expressed to this committee have alleged startling claims of fraud without evidence,” WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe told lawmakers. “Nearly all of these concerns can be easily explained and understood once placed in context of how our election systems work.”

Wolfe said WEC has worked hard to answer questions about the state’s voter rolls, vote count, and allegedly fake voters.

On Wednesday the Commission said one of those accused fake voters, a man by the name of Ambrose Adventure, turned out to be a real person who legally changed his name.

Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, told Wolfe that quicker and more complete answers from the Commission would have helped.

“There’s 50-plus conspiracy theories out there,” Tusler said. “If we can narrow down the most tangible one, kind of get rid of these easier to explain ones, I think we’d all be in a better place now.”

The hearing came as tensions between Republicans grew over their response to the 2020 election. Assembly Campaigns and Elections Chairwoman Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, issued a statement after the hearing in which she accused Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of “kneecapping” her election investigation and reform efforts.

“It is no secret that the Speaker of the Assembly, Robin Vos, and State Sen. Kathy Bernier have been severely downplaying the significance of the voter fraud that the elections committee, the special counsel, and numerous independent groups have uncovered. Even in the face of growing outrage from an overwhelming number of Wisconsinites across the state, they continue to play political games with the future of our elections and our state,” Brandtjen said.

She’s upset that Vos sent some election reforms to a different Assembly committee. Bernier is the chairwoman of the Senate’s election committee.

“My question is simple: What are Robin Vos and Kathy Bernier afraid of?” Brandtjen asked.

Wednesday’s hearing also came one day after Brandtjen and now Republican candidate for governor Rep. Tim Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, rallied at the Capitol with a few hundred people.

Ramthun is running for governor on a promise to recall Wisconsin’s electoral votes, which election officials say is impossible, and move forward with a complete forensic audit of the 2020 election.