Thread by @weareoversight

Wisconsin has joined a growing list of states where allies of former President Trump have launched bogus “investigations” as part of an effort to perpetuate the big lie that the election was stolen. Here’s what’s happening and how we’re investigating.

On May 26, 2021, more than six months after the 2020 presidential election, Robin Vos, Wisconsin’s top Republican lawmaker, announced that he would hire three retired police officers and an attorney to conduct a new investigation of the election results.

We jumped right to action and sent public records requests to Vos' office, as well the offices of state Reps. Joe Sanfelippo, the vice chair of the elections committee, and Janel Brandtjen, the current chair.

The documents we’ve obtained so far in our investigation reveal that Vos began laying the groundwork more than a month before he announced the ballot review on May 26.
americanoversight.org/the-latest-att…

On April 5, Vos’ chief of staff wrote that Vos “decided to set up an in person meeting tomorrow” with Mike Sandvick, one of the retired cops who is conducting the elections investigation. This meeting would have taken place over 6 weeks before Vos announced the review.

Sandvick previously wrote a report about election fraud that was disavowed by prosecutors and described by a federal judge as not trustworthy. He’s also done work for the state Republican Party and the voting-restriction group True the Vote.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

State Reps. Joe Sanfelippo and Janel Brandtjen were both invited to participate in the meeting via phone. Both have previously questioned — without evidence — the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.

There’s more. On April 15, someone from Vos’ office asked if Sanfelippo “would be available to meet on May 5th with an elections investigator in the Speaker’s office.”

The hiring of the three ex-law enforcement officials wasn't publicly reported until May 26. Two days later, assembly leaders voted 5-3, on party lines, to grant Vos the authority to make the hires.

Our investigation into this partisan ballot review continues. We’re still waiting on responses to many of our records requests. Vos’s office has acknowledged it received some of those requests, but has not provided any records.

Learn more about the ongoing investigation here:
americanoversight.org/investigation/…