A former judge representing the Trump campaign said state election officials and some local clerks “willfully determined” that they would not follow state law in administering the Nov. 3 election.
Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to have more than 200,000 ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties tossed out. Chief Justice Pat Roggensack has consolidated the cases and appointed Racine County Reserve Judge Stephen Simanek to hear them.
Democratic President-elect Joe Biden won Wisconsin by fewer than 21,000 votes.
Appearing Sunday on “UpFront,” Jim Troupis, a GOP attorney and retired judge who is representing the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, said state statute makes it “mandatory that the ballot not be counted that does not comply with absentee voting laws.”
“What you have, is you have municipal clerks, the Wisconsin Election Commission, some of the counties, deciding to write their laws, their procedures, however they’d like. They are not entitled to do that,” Troupis said on the show, which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com.
“Why aren’t people mad as can be at the Wisconsin Election Commission, and the municipal and county clerks who did not follow the law?” Troupis asked.
But Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul predicted the Trump lawsuits would be unsuccessful.
“With all of these cases, the odds of success for the people challenging these are basically zero,” Kaul said.
Kaul said the Trump campaign is attempting to disenfranchise over 200,000 voters by removing “validly cast ballots” through litigation.
“It’s just not possible that the result is going to change based on these suits,” Kaul said.
In another segment, one of the people planning how the COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed in Wisconsin said the first vaccine shipment could arrive around Dec. 14.
Ann Lewandowski, who co-chairs the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee’s vaccine subcommittee, said planning is still very fluid.
The CDC has determined that health care workers will get the vaccine first, followed by residents of long-term care facilities.
After that, she said, state planners are looking next at vaccinating essential workers, adults over 65, and people with chronic medical conditions.
“It’s less about determining who exactly is in the population, and more articulating clearly who should really be able to get vaccinated across the state equally,” Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski said planning also could change based on the course of COVID-19 illness in Wisconsin.
See more from the program here.
