Thread by @sbauerAP

.@WI_Elections Commission meeting is off to a rocky start, with GOP members arguing for another meeting before @realDonaldTrump recount results are certified

Democrats say there's no point to meet again because the law spells out how certification goes

Commission is split 3-3

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump Commission is now arguing over what changes, if any, to make to its recount manual providing guidance to local elections officials

Democratic member Mark Thomsen, from Milwaukee, says "I've never felt so attacked" by Trump seeking recount only in Milwaukee, Dane counties

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump Republican commission member Den Knudson is arguing that the order calling for the recount should tell the counties to set aside ballots in bulk that Trump is questioning in expectation of a future court challenge

Democrats say Trump's claims are baseless

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump Republican commission member Bob Spindell says thousands of absentee ballots could have been sent out without people requesting them

Chair Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, called such a charge "absurd. It’s factually bizarre.”

She calls it a “vague, paranoid conspiracy.”

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump Jacobs tells Spindell it was irresponsible for him to repeat the claim:

“What I would suggest is you not say it because it’s not true. ... What we ought not be doing is watering that plant of baloney.”

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump Jacobs has this advice for the commission as it proceeds tonight:

“What I would suggest is we stick to reality and premise the work we do on reality as we sit here.”

@WI_Elections @realDonaldTrump The commission is now arguing over what its order to start the recount will say.

Republicans don't want it to reference updates to a recount manual with guidance for local election officials

The law requires the commission to order the recount. They appear now to be deadlocked

Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen says it will work through disagreements over recount manual and eventually approve recount order, but it may take some time.

“It’s clear some people don’t want us to go home until 1 or 2 in the morning.”

Unable to agree, for now, on what the motion to order the recount should say, the commission is now discussing line by line what changes staff have made in a 2018 recount manual and the new version that includes accommodations for the pandemic, among other things

Commissioner Dean Knudson objects to voting on each change in the recount manual, says that won't help reach a compromise that will lead to it being approved

Chair Ann Jacobs asks what his ideas are:

“I would be delighted to see this commission actually function.”

Commissioner Dean Knudson says Democrats are using the pandemic as a cover to pursue changes they want to election law, "even when it was silly."

He says Democrats in Milwaukee and Dane counties want to make it harder to observe the recount and are using pandemic as "excuse"

More than two hours into WEC meeting where they are to approve an order to start a recount paid for by @realDonaldTrump, they are arguing line by line over changes to a recount manual, making no progress:

Mark Thomsen: “This is clear this is not going to work.”

@realDonaldTrump Republican Bob Spindell says Democrats in Milwaukee and Dane counties don't want Trump observers to view ballots

He says the recount can have "total safety" and also protect rights of observers to see the ballots

@realDonaldTrump On a unanimous vote, the Wisconsin Elections Commission approves adding one sentence to the recount manual saying "ballots and materials must be available for candidates and their representatives to view and offer any objections to a ballot
being counted."

Nearly three hours into WEC meeting, as commissioners continue to wrangle over adding wording to recount manual related to pandemic safety measures, Mark Thomsen muses:

“It’s just remarkable the six of us in a civilized fashion can’t agree to this stuff.”

At 9:07 p.m., as they continue wrangling over changes to the recount manual, the commission takes a 15-minute break.

Commissioner Dean Knudson suggests all absentee ballot requests made via the state's MyVote website, the method used by most voters, may be illegal

“I hope we haven’t created a system at WEC that entices people to request a ballot that actually isn’t in keeping with the law.”

The commission deadlocked on changing the guidance to make clear that state law does not require during a recount that every application for an absentee ballot be reviewed

As it stands, language remains that says written applications for absentee ballots be reviewed

Republican Bob Spindell said whether the guidance relative to absentee ballots was contrary to state law was open to interpretation:

“That’s not something we’re going to determine tonight.”

After spending hours voting on changes to the recount manual, the commission is now arguing over whether to instruct clerks that they should follow only state law or state law and the manual

Republican Bob Spindell:

“What does follow the statute mean? There’s all kinds of interpretations to that.”

Democrat Julie Glancey:

“I don’t really see that. The law is the law.”

Five and a half hours after they started, the Wisconsin Elections Commission votes unanimously on order to be issued tomorrow starting the Trump-requested recount

The order does not refer to the commission's own recount manual they spent hours revising