December 15, 2021
by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director
For a while there, I thought all the reckless attacks on the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the endless fishing expeditions by Michael Gableman were just a way to mollify the Trumpian base of the Republican Party.
And it certainly has done that. The constant drumbeat of denialism about last November’s elections has fed the enraged base of the Republican Party, with 64% of Republicans in Wisconsin doubting the validity of last November’s election, according to a Marquette Law School poll last month. 30% of Independents also doubted (only 1% of Democrats did).
Many Republican officials, with the notable exception of Sen. Kathy Bernier, have been afraid to speak up and tell the truth, for fear that their base – or their party leaders – will punish them for it.
But there’s something more sinister going on here.
There’s a scheme in the works to hand over the administration, and even worse, the certification of our elections to partisan Republican officials.
The scheme has a couple options.
One is to amend the state constitution to hand the powers of the Wisconsin Elections Commission over to the legislature, which, because of gerrymandering, will remain solidly in Republican hands.
Another option, if Gov. Evers is defeated next year, is just to pass a law to do the same thing, or to hand over the powers of the Wisconsin Election Commission to another office, like the Secretary of State, assuming that a Republican wins that office.
Under any of these options, the will of the Wisconsin people could be easily sabotaged.
And that’s about as sinister as it gets.