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The Republicans on the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections have demanded information on the voter rolls and who had access to them considering how many partisan groups were involved with the 2020 election.
In a letter penned by committee chair state Rep. Janel Brandtjen and five other members to the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Meagan Wolfe, the Republicans demanded 8 pieces of information.
“We are concerned that Wisconsin’s voter rolls and voting system remain secure, protected and accurate. In fulfillment of this committee’s oversight obligations and responsibilities under state law, you are ordered to provide us with the following answers and information on or before December 31, 2021,” they said in the letter.
“Please confirm that all of the voter identification data (Voter Identification Database) contained within, used or accessed by the Wisconsin statewide voter roll system administered by your agency(Statewide System) is hosted, stored or otherwise resides on a server or servers owned and operated by the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA). If the Voter Identification Database is hosted elsewhere, please provide the identity of the host and any and all written or oral agreements between WEC and such host,” the Republicans said.
They also demanded “the name and all technical specifications (including coding language, version and platform) of the application software used to code and run the Statewide System and whether any contractors were used to design, build or operate any portion or component of the software. It is our understanding that the Statewide System consists of a main application or platform, and coordinates WisVote, MyVote, BadgerVote, and possibly other applications, which may not be public. Please identify ALL applications that have any connectivity to the Statewide System throughany application programming interface (API) or other path of connectivity giving any and all parties real time access to any function of the Statewide System or the Voter Identification Database, including contractors, vendors, non-profit or political entities and any other parties.”
The lawmakers also asked for “ all logs, registries or records of any kind recording all changes to the status of every voter, active and inactive, contained in the 7 million record Voter Identification Database or the Statewide System. Such logs, registries and other records must specifically show the time and date a voter is registered in the Voter Identification Database and Statewide System, who registered the person to vote and each and every status change of every voter when turned inactive, reactivated and or turned back inactive.”
This comes after Donald Trump won a legal fight against Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and other officials who sought to force the former president to pay legal fees racked up defending his lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election result.
“The court lacks jurisdiction over the dispute because the swing state, along with Milwaukee County officials and the mayors of Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay, waited too long to seek legal fees and sanctions against Trump’s lawyers, U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig in Milwaukee ruled Monday,” Bloomberg News reported.
Trump sued Wisconsin officials after the presidential election and challenged the state’s voting rules in an attempt to have the court compel the GOP-controlled state legislature to choose Wisconsin’s electors.
After Trump’s lawsuit was dismissed, Gov. Evers filed a request seeking to compel Trump and his counsel to pay $145,174.90 in attorneys fees.
Judge Ludwig, a Trump appointee, said Trump’s case was “not insignificant failings” and that he wouldn’t have awarded fees even if he did have the jurisdiction to do so.
“Ready, fire, aim is not the preferred approach when litigating constitutional claims in federal court,” Ludwig said.
“Nevertheless, in the overall context of this case, the court is unable to conclude that counsel’s conduct multiplied these proceedings in an objectively unreasonable and vexatious manner sufficient to warrant a fee award,” Ludwig added.
“The clash is part of the legal fallout from dozens of failed lawsuits by Trump and his supporters alleging his loss to President Joe Biden was the result of massive voter fraud. Earlier this month, former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell and other lawyers who sued to overturn the election result in Michigan were ordered to pay the state and the city of Detroit $175,250 for abusing the legal system with unfounded conspiracy theories,” Bloomberg reported.
