“For months, far-right conspiracy theorists have not only argued that Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020 — even after a count, recount, and an audit proved otherwise — they also insisted that state officials could undo the certification of Wisconsin’s election results,” MSNBC reports (here).
Michael Gableman (photo, left; bio here), a “conspiracy theorist from Trump’s own team,” gave them what they wanted. Of course, you knew he would from the get-go.
So did the Wisconsin GOP, which is why they put him in charge of their sham “audit” of the 2020 election.
It’s in the news because Gableman just issued his sham “report.” Despite the fact the GOP-controlled legislature commissioned it, and taxpayers footed the bill for it, it has no official status or legal effect. It’s nothing more than a Republican “stop the steal” comic book.
A reporter from the Washington Post who read it says, “This Wisconsin ‘fraud’ report is so mind-bogglingly stupid that I’m honestly amazed the man responsible for it sat on the state Supreme Court.” Wisconsin’s judicial commission isn’t; they had to process the ethics complaints against him.
MSNBC says, “It seemed difficult to even imagine a sham election ‘audit’ that was more cringe-worthy than the Arizona Republicans’ fiasco,” but Gableman pulled it off. You can read the sordid details by clicking on links about.
It potentially could, however, be used as evidence in a proceeding to revoke Gableman’s license to practice law on grounds of incompetence. It does constitute a legal opinion of sorts, although it’s just that, his opinion. And because he’s not a judge anymore, his opinions count for squat.
In a rare moment of honesty, “Gableman acknowledged that he doesn’t have ‘any understanding of how elections work.’” Enough said. If you don’t want to go to the links I provided, that’s all you need to know about this “audit.”