Assembly Speaker Robin Vos claimed there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election even though several reviews — including one by the nonpartisan LAB he helped authorize — found there was not.
Leaving a meeting yesterday in the Assembly Hearing Room inside the Capitol with activists who want the Legislature to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory, the Rochester Republican again said he doesn’t believe there is a constitutional avenue to decertifying Wisconsin’s election results.
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer told WisPolitics.com in an email it’s “deeply disturbing that Speaker Vos continues to peddle conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”
“The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau report showed that there was no widespread voter fraud — and the study done by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty came to the same conclusion,” she said. “Speaker Vos is continuing to give life to these false claims about Wisconsin’s 2020 election. Enough with the lies and the political games, it’s beyond time to move on from this farce.”
After the meeting, Vos told reporters former Justice Michael Gableman’s investigation will bring forward more data.
“I think there was widespread fraud and I think we are going to see more and more data that comes out as Justice Gableman continues his investigation,” Vos said. “But it’s up to the people of Wisconsin to decide who they want to lead their state.”
Vos said Republicans need to forge ahead to elect GOP candidates in 2022 to solidify Republican’s legislative advantage and pass more bills to ensure integrity in elections instead of looking in the rearview mirror.
“I think we should focus on the solution, which is a new governor, a new attorney general and the ability to have, as we move forward, solutions that can actually become law, as opposed to ideas which, again, are totally untested, never been done in the history of our country,” he said. “We can’t have a Legislature decertifying an election.”
Former Menomonee Falls Village President Jefferson Davis told press and attendees at a post-meeting gathering that anyone who claims his group is trying to decertify election results is “a doggone fool.” Constitutional lawyer and U.S. Army officer Ivan Raiklin, also present, and a key player in Davis’ group, has opined that there are ways to decertify the election.
Rep. Tim Ramthun said Vos asked him to leave the meeting before it began.
“The speaker asked that I not participate in this meeting because he claims that it’s his,” Ramthun told reporters outside the closed meeting.
Ramthun later told reporters that Vos said he did not want to turn the meeting into a campaign event, as Ramthun is running for governor. He said he had only come to listen.
Ramthun also called for transparency and said he and the press should have been present.
“I wanted to come and ask you the question, how you felt about being out here, when you should be in there, too. That’s freedom of the press. That’s truth and transparency; open, honest government, and right now, we’re witnessing that’s not the case,” Ramthun said.
In response to a reporter’s question, Ramthun pointed at the room where Vos and the activists were meeting and told reporters he thinks at least some people in attendance should be investigated for obstruction.
“I think there’s people in that room that were involved that don’t want to see closure on this. That’s why they’ve been obstructing all along,” the Campbellsport Republican said.
Ahead of the meeting, Ramthun walked into the room alongside Davis and Raiklin. Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, joined the group post-meeting.
Various attorneys familiar with elections law have said there is no path to decertify the election results. Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke has also said he would not support such an effort.
Vos has also said he doesn’t believe there is a way to decertify the results.
