MADISON, Wis. — After months of delays, typos, attempts to jail mayors and election officials, bafflingly incompetent legal missteps, and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted, Michael Gableman has released a conspiracy-theory laden, sham interim report on the 2020 election, requested by the Wisconsin GOP.

 

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler released the following statement:

 

“The GOP’s handpicked prosecutor just encouraged the Wisconsin Legislature to throw out and disenfranchise the votes of the more than 1.6 million Wisconsinites who voted for the president in 2020 and illegally decertify the results of a free, fair, and secure democratic election. As ridiculous as this notion sounds, it’s a deadly serious authoritarian threat to our Constitution, and it could well menace our democracy in 2024. Gableman and his cronies are laying the groundwork for Republicans to overturn future elections when they don’t like the outcome.

 

“Gableman’s report makes clear that the stakes are colossal in 2022 — Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight to protect free and fair elections. Should a Republican win the governor’s race in the fall, our state will see anti-democracy legislation signed into law instead of vetoed. Wisconsin voters would be hit with a profound rollback in voting rights and spikes in election interference from Republicans aiming to rig elections in their favor. This is not a hypothetical risk; it is the explicit platform of the Republican candidates for governor. Tim Ramthun has rallied in the Capitol to decertify the 2020 election results, Kevin Nicholson has sowed doubt in the legitimacy of our elections, and Rebecca Kleefisch has refused to say if she would have certified the 2020 election—or if she would sign legislation allowing the overturning of the 2024 election. If these Republican candidates think they should be governor, they need to speak out against Gableman’s disastrous and embarrassing investigation, unequivocally condemn the idea that Wisconsin’s 2020 votes shouldn’t count, and commit now to certifying the results of the 2024 election and refusing to overturn them.

 

“Governor Evers is the last line of defense against authoritarian attacks on American democracy emanating from the Republican Party. We have been lucky that Governor Evers is in office and resolute about vetoing restrictions on the right to vote. As long as he is our governor, Wisconsinites can trust that he will continue to stand up for democracy, protect our right to vote, and fight for free and fair elections. Those who care about democracy should do everything in their power to re-elect Governor Evers to a second term.”

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