To the editor:
The Wisconsin State Legislature adjourned for 2024. The Assembly closed out last month and the Senate last week. Among five bipartisan bills passed by the Assembly, which were not acted on by the Senate, is one which would allow election clerks to count absentee ballots before or concurrent with in-person voting. The goal of the bill is to relieve pressure on election officials and result in short circuiting candidates’ claims that absentee ballots were/are somehow manufactured to overcome an in-person vote deficit. This legislation is supported by clerks statewide.
One would think this bipartisan Assembly bill should have been enacted for our November 2024 elections. The representatives must have spoken to their local election officials before voting on this bill, which serves the interests of all of our citizens. Having been the Democratic party voter protection attorney for Shawano County from 2004 through 2020, I say, kudos to all our election personnel, officials and volunteer staff, county and municipal, who unfailingly perform their nonpartisan civic duties every election cycle, professionally and honestly.
Further examination reveals the Senate election committee chair who failed to allow the bill to the floor is Daniel Knudl, R-Germantown. Knudl was one of the Wisconsin legislators who petitioned Vice President Mike Pence to violate his constitutional duties and give the state legislatures time to meet to try to overrule the will of the people.
Isn’t it time to drop the partisan chicanery regarding our elections? In civil litigation, all the fake Wisconsin electors admit that they were misled and Joseph Biden won Wisconsin in 2020.
Andrew Hitt, former GOP chairperson, went on “60 Minutes” and stated the same, saying he signed as a fake elector because he was afraid for the safety of his family. Most importantly, James Troupis and Kenneth Cheseboro, architects of the fraud, have also been brought to heel in civil court. Troupis is paying an undisclosed sum to the plaintiffs. Cheseboro is cooperating with federal law enforcement investigating false electors in several states.
It remains to be seen whether Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul’s investigation leads to charges against the false electors or whether Wisconsin would be better served by a non-charge given the repudiation of the “big lie” by Hitt and the other fake electors.
The appointment of Daniel Knudl as the election committee chair is a perpetuation of denialism and a stain on our democracy.
Stephen Menard, Shawano
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