Johnson calls for ‘snap audits’ in future elections
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson Tuesday called for creating more audits for future elections to restore public confidence that voting results are accurate.
In remarks to the Rotary Club of Milwaukee on Tuesday, Johnson doubled down on his contention the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was not an armed insurrection and weighed in on voting issues in Wisconsin.
“Just have snap audits where you go in and you do a complete audit,” Johnson said. “You take a look at paper trail, you look at the voter logs and take the paper ballots and you audit that against the results of what the machine is telling you.”
Johnson, who has called for tightening election laws after the 2020 election, suggested performing audits without advance notice in a certain number of precincts and likened the process to a business auditing petty cash as a signal to root out any potential fraud.
“This isn’t rocket science,” said Johnson, who is running for a third term against Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes. “I think it’s pretty easy to restore confidence.”
The state routinely performs random audits in line with what Johnson is suggesting but does not do snap audits.
“You don’t just walk in and hand over ballots,” said Ann Jacobs, a Democratic appointee to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. “I think people would lose their minds if that is what is going on.”
Jacobs said there are rules governing audits, including who is permitted to do the task and ensuring the safety and security of the ballots.
“We’ve been increasing the number of audits each election cycle and we’ve found it to be very successful,” she said.
During his appearance, Johnson weighed in on a variety of topics, from the national debt to the legislative push to codify same-sex marriage.
He defended his votes against the American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief bill and an infrastructure bill, two significant legislative accomplishments of President Joe Biden’s administration.
“I’m actually proud of voting no on trillions of dollars in spending. Somebody has to,” Johnson said. “The greatest threat to government benefits, the greatest threat to our economy, to jobs is the debt crisis. Let’s just see how the economy is going to proceed with 8.5% inflation. I have been predicting stagflation for well over a year because I’m from the
Wisconsin routinely performs random audits in line with what Sen. Ron Johnson is suggesting, but does not do snap audits.
private sector.”
After originally declaring he saw “no reason to oppose” a bill to oppose a bill to codify same-sex marriage, Johnson has said he would not support the Respect for Marriage Act in its current form.
Johnson argued codifying same-sex marriage is unnecessary and that it’s “scare tactics.”
“The only way I would support a bill like this is if we have very strong protections for religious liberty,” Johnson said. “What I’ve seen so far right now is that it’s not strong enough.”
Johnson repeats claim Jan. 6 was not an ‘armed insurrection’
Johnson continued to push back on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol being an “armed insurrection,” despite video footage and photos of the attack showing participants erecting gallows, deploying pepper spray, hurling a fire extinguisher, using baseball bats to smash windows, and throwing flags like spears at police officers.
The events left a least five people dead. “Now some of the protesters did teach us all how you can use flagpoles and that kind of stuff as weapons,” Johnson said. “But to call what happened on January 6 an armed insurrection, I just think is not accurate.”
He said protesters “stayed within the rope lines” in the Capitol Rotunda and that Congress reopened around six hours after the riots and the Electoral College votes were counted.
“So again, I realize that term (armed insurrection) has been used to inflame the situation,” he said. “I think it’s grossly inaccurate. But I understand what one side of the political spectrum is trying to do, they’re trying to paint half of America as potential domestic terrorists or semi-fascist. That’s what’s dividing this country.”
Police recovered a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from seven people who were arrested over their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot, according to NBC News, and the House select committee investigating the attack played police radio traffic reporting armed protesters in the Capitol area.