Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced Wednesday she is hiring retired police officers to investigate the Nov. 3 presidential election, joining efforts in GOP-led states to look into the contest last year.
Vos, a Republican, told local news outlets that he will hire three retired officers who will work with an Assembly committee that has investigatory powers to look into the election. Vos said that there were thousands of complaints made after the Nov. 3 contest in Wisconsin—which narrowly went for President Joe Biden—which need to be investigated.
“We need to have a fact basis to continue to show the public in Wisconsin that, number one, we continue to take these irregularities seriously, and that at the end of the day, the laws that we proposed are based on facts in addition to anecdotes,” Vos told the Wisconsin State Journal, adding that he believes Biden won the election but pointed to “irregularities” in how it was carried out.
In the interview, Vos singled out how the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which is mostly funded by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, got involved in several cities. Wisconsin’s five largest cities received some $6.3 million from the group, which also provided funding to about 200 municipalities across the state, reported the Journal Sentinel.
The retired officers and committee will spend three months reviewing all the tips that were received and will focus more time on the most credible ones, Vos told the Journal Sentinel.
“Is there a whole lot of smoke or is there actual fire? We just don’t know yet,” he said, adding: “A sizable chunk of people believe the election was illegitimate. And democracy cannot flourish if both sides don’t believe in the end both sides had a fair shot.”
The move comes in the midst of auditors—who were approved by the Arizona GOP-led Senate—reviewing more than 2 million ballots in Maricopa County and similar efforts across the United States. Last week, a judge in Georgia ruled to unseal absentee ballots that were cast in Fulton County during the 2020 election for a review.
Vos noted the controversy surrounding the Maricopa audit and said he wanted to prevent a similar situation from unfolding in Wisconsin. That’s why, according to him, he hired former law enforcement officials.
“My hope is that they come back and they build the case to show Gov. (Tony) Evers and the Democrats who are in the ‘Casablanca’ mode — ‘nothing to see here,’ ‘everything’s fine,’ ‘they just want to suppress the vote.’ No. These are professional investigators,” Vos told the Sentinel.
Since the election is over, Vos said there is no way to overturn the results in favor of former President Donald Trump.
“The election’s already over,” he said. “My job is to be frustrated with the result, which I am, especially with what’s going on in Washington, D.C. … My job is to say where are the laws being followed, where are they not? If they’re not being followed, how can I fix it?”
Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who heads the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told the paper she was concerned about Vos’s investigation.
“I think it’s unfortunate that the Legislature is using its resources to investigate what has already been thoroughly investigated and it is my hope that instead they could work toward expanding opportunities and ease of voting for Wisconsin voters,” she said.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Elections Commission for comment.
From The Epoch Times
