Delegates at the GOP state convention this weekend will consider resolutions that call for protecting those who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and requiring all Wisconsin elections to be conducted by hand-counted paper ballots.
One resolution proposes supporting U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on COVID-19, praising the Oshkosh Republican for a panel discussion he hosted last year in which speakers largely expressed skepticism about the vaccine.
Johnson has regularly been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19. A Marquette University Law School Poll in February found 31 percent of Wisconsin voters trust a great deal or a fair amount of what the U.S. senator says about the coronavirus and treatments. Sixty-one percent said they don’t trust what he says on the topic much or at all.
The package of resolutions, obtained by WisPolitics.com, run the gamut of conservative causes from universal school choice to calling for Wisconsin to pass a “stand your ground” law. Those laws allow the use of deadly force in public and state that someone who is attacked has no duty to retreat.
The resolutions originated at the local party level before being screened by a state party committee. They’re scheduled to be voted on Saturday during convention proceedings in Middleton. Party activists can submit additional resolutions ahead of the floor debate.
The resolutions related to election administration include one that calls for firing Wisconsin Elections Commission staff and reorganizing the agency to be “truly fair and honest.” Another calls for dissolving the agency and putting the Legislature in charge of election administration.
The agency has been targeted by Republicans for criticism over the guidance it provided local clerks ahead of the 2020 election.
The resolution calling for the use of paper ballots claims recent elections have “cast doubt on accuracy in the use of electronic vote tabulation.” The Legislative Audit Bureau’s review of the 2020 election found electronic voting equipment accurately counted the results in the presidential race.
The resolutions that touch on COVID-19 include one calling for banning mandatory vaccinations. It also calls for an investigation into deaths in Wisconsin hospitals “where instead of allowing proven and safe alternative treatments such as Ivermectin to be administered” … “dangerous experimental drugs” are being used. Randomized controlled trials have yet to find a beneficial use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19.
The resolution calling for a ban on mandatory vaccinations doesn’t differentiate between those for COVID-19 and other diseases. Wisconsin law currently requires students to show they have received required vaccinations against diseases such as polio or have a waiver to attend school.
Other COVID-related resolutions argue national, state and local authorities have no authority to mandate disease mitigations such as masks or vaccinations. Another states, “no person or agency can fully understand the complexity of the human body or all of the relationships and interrelationships that comprise public health.” It calls public health or environmental emergency orders “acts of insurrection against the letter and spirit of our free republic and shall be ignored or deemed advisory only.”
Other resolutions would:
*condemn critical race theory and call on the Legislature and local school boards to prohibit its teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels as well as banning public universities and tech colleges from compelling students to adhere to its tenets.
*call for legislation to ban physical treatments for minors who want to transition their gender. It also calls for legislation to “preserve women’s and girls’ sports for biological females.” Legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in high school and college sports passed the Assembly this session but wasn’t taken up by the Senate.
See the proposed resolutions.