GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — In an audit looking into how election clerks and the Wisconsin’s election commission comply with election laws, 30 recommendations have been made to the WEC staff on how to improve. Eighteen of those recommendations including possible legal change. The report also clarifies there was no widespread fraud found during Wisconsin’s November 2020 election.
Which Democratic Assembly minority leader Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh says proves nothing other than Wisconsin conducted a safe election.
“They made recommendations to clarify things where there was ambiguity, but none of those things had anything to do with election results,” said Hintz.
However, Republican Assembly majority leader Jim Steineke of Kaukauna says otherwise.
“I don’t know if the results for the election are in question, but it does, the audit does call into question some of the procedures followed and clerks and Wisconsin elections commission simply not following the law,” said Steineke.
For example, one of the recommendations clarifies establishing polling places. By law, a municipal governing body needs to establish polling places 30 days before the election. In March 2020 during the pandemic, WEC approved guidance that clerks could relocate polling places without approval. As of August 2021, the audit found WEC had not removed or changed this guidance, therefore not complying with statutes.
“The biggest thing is Wisconsin Elections Commission is not following state statute and spewing out guidance to clerks that is in conflict with current state law and that is just unacceptable,” said Steineke.
While state representative Lee Snodgrass said she supports looking closely into WEC’s recommendations, the Appleton Democrat also believes the jobs of clerks and WEC should not be undermined.
“If anything the legislature should invest in technology, training, and recourses to ensure they can do the job that they did that we know was an accurate job,” said Snodgrass.
The Audit Bureau did not give election officials a chance to respond for the report. The Bureau said because so many people were involved in the audit, it could have compromised the confidentially of its work.
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