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Special Counsel Finds Zuckerberg’s Election Millions Violated Bribery Laws in Wisconsin; Leaves it to Assembly to Decertify

The special counsel who investigated the November 2020 election in Wisconsin, determined in a 135-page report Tuesday that the nearly $9 million in election grants  provided to Center for Tech and Civic Life by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, violated a Wisconsin election bribery law.

Special Counsel Michael Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, was tasked by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to investigate the election.

Gableman said in his report that it is up to the Wisconsin Assembly to decide whether the 2020 election results should be decertified.

“This Report is not intended to reanalyze the re-count that occurred in late 2020,” he wrote. “And the purpose of this Report is not to challenge certification of the Presidential election, though in Appendix II we do sketch how that might be done. Any decisions in that vein must be made by the elected representatives of the people, that is, the Wisconsin Legislature. Yet it is clear that Wisconsin election officials’ unlawful conduct in the 2020 Presidential election casts grave doubt on Wisconsin’s 2020 Presidential election certification.”

Republican State Rep. Timothy Ramthun has for months been calling for a Joint Resolution to decertify Wisconsin’s electoral votes, and made it a major theme in his run for governor. Vos and Wis. State Rep. Jim Steineke both staunchly oppose decertification.

Gableman listed eight items he refers to as “unlawful conduct and irregularities.”

1. Election officials’ use of absentee ballot drop boxes in violation of Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1 and § 6.855;

2. The Center for Tech and Civic Life’s $8,800,000 Zuckerberg Plan Grants being run in the Cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, 8 Kenosha and Green Bay constituting Election Bribery Under Wis. Stat. § 12.11;

3. WEC’s failing to maintain a sufficiently accurate WisVote voter database, as determined by the Legislative Audit Bureau;

4. The Cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay engaging private companies in election administration in unprecedented ways, including tolerating unauthorized users and unauthorized uses of WisVote private voter data under Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) policies, such as sharing voter data for free that would have cost the public $12,500;

5. As the Racine County Sheriff’s Office has concluded, WEC unlawfully directed the municipal clerks not to send out the legally required special voting deputies to nursing homes, resulting in many nursing homes’ registered residents voting at 100% rates and many ineligible residents voting, despite a guardianship order or incapacity;

6. Unlawful voting by wards-under-guardianship left unchecked by Wisconsin election officials, where WEC failed to record that information in the State’s WisVote voter database, despite its availability through the circuit courts—all in violation of the federal Help America Vote Act.

7. WEC’s failure to record non-citizens in the WisVote voter database, thereby permitting non-citizens to vote, even though Wisconsin law requires citizenship to vote—all in violation of the Help America Vote Act. Unlawful voting by non-citizens left unchecked by Wisconsin election officials, with WEC failing to record that information in the State’s WisVote voter database; and

8. Wisconsin election officials’ and WEC’s violation of Federal and Wisconsin Equal Protection Clauses by failing to treat all voters the same in the same election.

The former state Supreme Court Justice spoke at a public hearing on Tuesday in front of the Committee on Campaigns and Elections.

He said that multiple polls in Wisconsin indicate a bipartisan distrust in the state’s elections.

Gableman noted that in every Wisconsin county that received Zuckerberg funding, nursing homes reported 100 percent turnout.

In addition to the nursing home fraud, he said “we had the specter of private, dark money—unaccountable to anyone—coming in, and taking an active role in the actual administrative process of our public elections—something that is unprecedented, as far as I know, in the history of this state.”

Gableman testified that the nation’s faith in its election system has been shaken and his goal is to “cure various systemic problems in the state.” He urged the legislature to act this month to rectify the situation before the close of session.

“This shaken faith is not a result of legitimate legislative inquiries into election administration, nor is it a result of lawful contests lodged by any candidate or party. Rather, it is largely a function of opaque, confusing, and often botched election processes that could have been corrected, and still can be corrected, with concerted effort on the part of lawmakers and conscientious civil servants who work for Wisconsin State government,” Gableman said.

Because of the monumental level of illegalities and irregularities in the 2020 election, the special counsel encouraged the assembly to seriously consider decertifying Wisconsin’s 2020 election results.

“At this point, I believe the legislature ought to take a very hard look at the option of decertification of the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election,” he said.

According to WBAY, the special counsel has threatened jail time for some big city mayors who refused subpoenas to testify about the election behind closed doors.

“Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich is among the targets of Gableman’s subpoenas,” WBAY reported. “The mayors have said they would prefer to testify in public rather than private.”

During an appearance on WISN news show UPFRONT  Sunday, Racine Mayor Cory Mason reportedly said he said he would go to jail if that’s what it takes to “defend democracy.”

“I certainly don’t want to go to jail, but if it’s something I would have to do to defend democracy and stand up for the clerks and all the poll workers that did all that hard work, it’s certainly something I would do,” Mason said.

In his report, Gableman had many policy recommendations for the Wisconsin legislation to pursue to restore confidence in election integrity.

• Eliminate the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

• Eliminate or Reduce Fees for Voter Registration Data.

• Maintain a Single Statewide Voter Registration Database, and Make it Publicly
Available and Secure.

• Set Up An Office to Engage in Auditing and Oversight of Elections.

• Standardize a Process for Post-Election Contest.

• Prohibit Certain Contractual Terms in Government Contracts.

• Minimize Pre-Voting.

• Encourage In-House Technical Support.

• Exit the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

• Provide a Method in Law for Private Challenge to Wisconsin Voter Rolls.

• Locate Certification of Presidential Electors in a Politically Accountable Body

• Provide a Method for Pre- and Post-Certification Challenges to Presidential
Elections.

• Prohibit Outside Funding and Staff in Elections Administration.

 

Tuesday morning, former President Donald Trump released a statement urging people to pay attention to the report.

“Everyone who loves America should be closely following today’s vital hearing in the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Election with highly respected former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman,” Trump said.

On Twitter, Rep. Steineke called any effort to decertify the election a “fool’s errand.”

“it would have no practical impact b/c there is no Constitutional way to remove a sitting president other than through impeachment or incapacity. Fools errand. Focus on the future,” Steineke tweeted.

Video of Tuesday’s hearing below:

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About Debra Heine

Debra Heine is a conservative Catholic mom of six and longtime political pundit. She has written for several conservative news websites over the years, including Breitbart and PJ Media.