‌‌‌‌‌Primary Win Means Quick End For Wisconsin Election ‘Investigation’

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Hello readers!

Republican politicians talk a big game about “election integrity.” But in the end, the rhetoric is at least in part about appeasing Donald Trump. 

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The Election ‘Investigation’ Was No Longer Useful For Robin Vos

Robin Vos, WISCONSIN’s state Assembly speaker, supported the hiring of a partisan “investigator” and, over time, the allocation of more than $1 million for an “investigation” that showed nothing of factual value, but did manage to erode trust in the state’s election system and provide fodder for election-denying Republican candidates.

Even as it became clear the probe was a partisan ploy, Vos stood by his hired investigator Michael Gableman, saying he was doing an “outstanding job.”

And then… that changed. Vos called Gableman an “embarrassment” and, within a couple days, promptly fired him.
 

What happened? Vos won his primary election.

We might hope that an issue as important as “election integrity” would signify more than a blunt political instrument for appeasing the former president and members of his base in a given politician’s constituency.

But, given Vos’ actions in Wisconsin, it’s hard to see the investigation as any more than an effort to score some political points with Donald Trump and his ilk.

Michigan AG Candidate’s Voting Machine Access Appears Linked To Far-Right Sheriff

More than a year ago, we were among a handful of publications noting that the far-right sheriff of Barry County, MICHIGAN had dispatched a deputy and a private investigator from township to township, grilling clerks about the 2020 election after apparently starting a probe based on information from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
 

Now, Sheriff Dar Leaf – a so-called “constitutional” sheriff who asserts his authority trumps other law enforcement – is the subject of a state investigation, and he’s sued Michigan State police officers and others who he claims have gotten in his way.
 

But that’s not all, we’re learning: Matthew DePerno, the GOP gubernatorial candidate who made a state-wide name for himself litigating the election results in Antrim County – where a simple human error was made into anti-voting machine propaganda for the Trump campaign – is also apparently involved.

Both Leaf and DePerno are part of a potential “conspiracy” to improperly access voting machines, Michigan’s attorney general has said. 
 

And, last week, more detail: DePerno has long claimed to have gained access to a ballot-tabulating machine, without detailing where it came from. Now, The Detroit News reports that a video featuring one of DePerno’s consultants appears to have been filmed at the same address used by Leaf’s private investigator.  

Around The States

A federal court in NORTH CAROLINA rejected state Democrats’ effort to block a lower court’s order allowing the Green Party to be recognized this election cycle, given that the party had collected enough legitimate signatures for ballot placement. So there will be a Green Party candidate in the U.S. Senate race this year.
 

PENNSYLVANIA is in the process of suing three counties for not counting mail-in ballots that were received on time, but which were missing a hand-written date. BUT they missed one: A fourth county that also did not certify the undated ballots. Imagine this on a larger scale, in a disputed election: An oversight like this could be a big deal! The judge handling the Pennsylvania case said Friday she would rule as quickly as possible.
 

The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer recently explored the constitutional crisis in OHIO, where a far-right legislator and Republican members of the state’s redistricting commission ignored state Supreme Court orders in order to make their legislature even redder — in a state that’s been a reliable swing vote for the presidency. To mark the lengthy and worthwhile article, I wrote a Twitter thread of our several months of coverage of that situation here. 

The Latest In Election Sabotage

Maricopa County, ARIZONA wants GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem to pay attorneys fees for their “frivolous” ongoing lawsuit to ban ballot tabulating machines. 
 

The right-wing ballot measure to give the KANSAS’ Republican legislature power to regulate abortion failed in a landslide vote. So the legislature is pushing another measure to give themselves more power, this time over executive branch regulations. 
 

Otero County, NEW MEXICO’s commission — the same one that briefly refused to certify local election results and counts a Jan. 6 defendant as a member — is going ahead with its plan to eliminate drop boxes and voting machines. They’re also suing the secretary of state.

Well-financed election lies, promoted by mainstream Republican politicians, have moved some true believers to hold stakeouts near ballot drop boxes. “Mules came to the site, saw the party and left without dropping ballots,” one said.

Brennan Center: Gerrymandering Competitive Districts to Near Extinction
 

TPM: Inside Trump Promises To Match Donor Contributions By Eyebrow-Raising Amounts
 

NYT: Defamation Suit About Election Falsehoods Puts Fox on Its Heels
 

AP: Conspiracies complicate voting machine debate in Louisiana

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