MADISON (WKOW) -- The Republican chair of the Assembly's elections committee issued subpoenas to two county clerks Friday demanding they turn over ballots and equipment from the November 2020 election.
While two other reviews of the election - a contest President Joe Biden won by more than 20,000 votes following several court challenges and recounts in the state's two most populous counties - are still ongoing, Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) issued the subpoenas to the clerks in Brown and Milwaukee counties.
"I sincerely welcome and applaud these efforts," Brandtjen said of the other reviews. "However, the people of Wisconsin demand and deserve a transparent, full, cyber-forensic audit."
The subpoenas, which may not actually carry any legal authority, come after the U.S. Department of Justicewarnedstates that such audits that grant third-parties access to voting machines and ballots could compromise the equipment and violate federal law in the process.
"The Department is concerned that some jurisdictions conducting them may be using, or proposing to use, procedures that risk violating the Civil Rights Act," a July 28 memo read.
Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson released a statement Friday defending his administration of the November election.
“The recount of the 2020 Presidential Election demonstrated conclusively that elections in Milwaukee County are fair, transparent, accurate and secure," Christenson said. “Any further review of the 2020 elections will come to the same conclusion as the recount and will accomplish nothing but waste taxpayer dollars.”
According to a June memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Council, the only person with the authority to issue a subpoena forcing someone to show up before an Assembly committee is Speaker Robin Vos.
Vos' signature is not on either of the subpoenas; his office did not respond to questions Friday. Vos had previously said Brandjten's push for yet another audit is "misguided."
Vos' investigation hit a snag last week when the two former police officers he appointed to investigate the election quit their jobs, saying part-time work wasn't enough time to conduct the investigation they wanted. Vos then announced former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who Vos put in charge of the review, could have more taxpayer money and time to get new investigators.
The results from both the Vos investigation and the Legislative Audit Bureau are expected to be released this fall.
Brandtjen's audit demands mirror similar reviews in Arizona and Pennsylvania, which some conservatives have dismissed as unserious.
The Brandtjen subpoena appears to be lifted from requests in other states as it lists documents, like signature matching files, that don't exist in Wisconsin.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said a "cyber-forensic" audit, that seeks to determine where outsiders hacked into voting machines to change results, is an affront to the efforts clerks make to ensure results add up.
"The idea would be, I guess, that the Chinese or somebody hacks into our county service, which are not connected to the internet, so that makes that a little hard, and then somehow changes the results," McDonell said. "Well we don't assume those results are correct; we check against the tapes from machines, the total number of signatures in the poll book."
Brandtjen issued the subpoenas on the same day right-wing activists rallied outside the Capitol, demanding Vos and other legislative leaders support an Arizona-style audit in Wisconsin.
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