Taxpayers will spend $676K on review of 2020 vote
Nearly half for voting machine data analysis
MADISON – A taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election results called for by Assembly Republicans will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a contractor who will likely examine data from voting machines, according to new records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The budget for the review is $676,000 with nearly half – $325,000 – being spent on a “data analysis contractor,” costs for which are classified as being related to “voting machines,” according to a new contract between former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
A total of $373,679 is classified as costs related to looking at voting machines, according to the contract.
Gableman, who claimed without evidence in November that the election was stolen, is leading the review. Recounts and multiple court rulings have found Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin.
Under the contract, Gableman will be afforded a $55,000 salary and $25,000 for travel expenses. Five investigators will be hired, each paid $25,000 by taxpayers. Another $50,000 will be spent on “outside legal counsel,” in addition to Gableman himself working as special counsel. Taxpayers also will pay $16,000 to an assistant for Gableman, $10,000 to rent an office and $2,000 for office equipment. The contract also budgets $15,000 for “communications.”
The review of the November presidential election is one of several that was called for after Trump falsely claimed that widespread fraud led to his defeat.
Gableman’s plan was released just
days after Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he supports reviewing the election but sees no reason to focus on voting machines. Johnson made the comments Sunday to a liberal activist who posed as a conservative and posted video of their exchange this week.
“I’ll tell you the last thing I would really focus on would be the machines,” the Oshkosh Republican said.
Johnson added the only reason Donald Trump lost the election was because some Republican voters didn’t cast ballots for him. Johnson said there was “nothing obviously skewed about the results” in Wisconsin.
Biden’s narrow defeat of Trump in Wisconsin was confirmed by recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties and a string of rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, state Supreme Court and federal judges, including one nominated by Trump.
In the wake of the election, Gableman said in November that state officials “stole” the election. He recently visited Arizona to get more information about the election review there. He also attended a South Dakota event hosted by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO who has claimed without evidence that China hacked the election.
Vos last week said travel would be covered by Gableman’s taxpayer-funded salary of $11,000 a month. An aide to Vos did not explain what travel would be covered under the new contract.
Vos expanded his investigation of the election a week after meeting with Trump on the issue.
Vos said then he is leaving key decisions on the probe to Gableman. Vos said he didn’t plan to have a say in who Gableman hires and would defer to the former justice on whether lawmakers should for the first time in decades issue subpoenas to gather documents as part of their investigation.
Vos doesn’t plan to sign subpoenas another Republican tried to issue but will approve what Gableman says he needs. The contract budgets $50,000 for court filing costs.
“If we need to have subpoenas, I have no problem at all issuing those. If Justice Gableman asks for them, I will issue them without hesitation.” Vos said.