The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau has concluded their allegedly nonpartisan audit of the 2020 presidential election, claiming that it was “safe and secure.” This comes on the heels of a nationwide push to audit all 50 states, a movement spearheaded by conservative, pro-Trump lawmakers and activists who strongly believe that the 2020 presidential election was compromised by copious amounts of fraudulent mail-in ballots.
The widespread allegations of election fraud are hardly new. The Maricopa County 2020 presidential election revealed shocking election irregularities, identifying nearly 700,000 problematic ballots, followed by an equally as disturbing independent analysis of Pima County, Ariz., which also revealed tens of thousands of additional ballot discrepancies.
President Trump himself has often referred to the 2020 presidential election as “rigged,” and has demanded decertification or even a new election in states where the audit findings have uncovered staggering levels of reported fraud.
The Wisconsin audit has been highly anticipated, especially in light of Joe Biden’s narrow margin of victory at just 21,000 votes in the state. However, according to Matt Batzel, a Wisconsin election activist and director of the American Majority conservative grassroots organization, the Legislative Audit Bureau allegedly did not examine ballot curing at all, which has been a major proponent of election fraud across the country.
Despite the media’s claims that the Wisconsin audit was perfectly fair and secure, the Audit Bureau’s own report stated that 6.9 percent of ballot envelopes reviewed were missing witness information, which could represent tens of thousands of ballots. Batzel also reported that over “12,000 deceased individuals were left on the voter rolls because clerks ‘made no determination’ on their deaths.” Strangely enough, these dead voters were not removed until after the election was over.
Additionally, OANN anchor Christina Bobb reported this week that 44,272 individuals in Wisconsin allegedly voted without proof of identification.
Despite the lingering questions surrounding the irregularities, the Audit Bureau insists that the Wisconsin presidential election was accurate and fair. However, they did identify inconsistent administration of election laws based on their reviews.
In fact, the bureau made 30 recommendations for the Wisconsin Elections Commissions to mull over, in addition to 18 legal changes, which would be considered by the legislature.
The question, then, begs – how was the election reportedly safe and secure when there were numerous election laws that were admittedly inconsistent during the process of counting and receiving ballots (according to the bureau’s own findings)?
State Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Wis., who formerly served as a county elections clerk and is now the current chair of the Senate Elections Committee, commented that the election audit showed “sloppy” election processes and administration.
Further, Sen. Robert Cowles, a Republican and Co-Chair of the Legislature’s Audit Committee, shared many of the recommendations made to the Wisconsin Elections Committee on his Twitter page, which ranged from providing additional training for ballot counting for municipal clerk and equipment vendor operators to guidelines on promulgating administrative rules related to absentee ballots, drop boxes, and witness information.
The mainstream media and opponents of President Trump may claim that the Wisconsin 2020 presidential election was a clean and safe operation, but there are still many questions that have been left unanswered.
The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau has not adequately addressed the discrepancies that arose regarding the administration of election laws on election night. Americans want to know why, if the election was so safe, were 30 election security recommendations made to the Wisconsin Elections Commission?