The Circus is Coming To Wisconsin: GOP State Reps Call For Arizona-Style Audit

POLITICO: “Supporters of Trump, egged on by the former president himself, have tried to spread Arizona-style ballot reviews across the country, often citing Trump’s lies about the election being stolen or manipulated” 

Accountable.US: “Not only are these baseless audits a waste of taxpayer dollars, they are causing irreversible damage to our democracy by sowing doubt about the results of legitimate elections in the minds of millions of voters”

Washington, D.C. — Janel Brandtjen, a Republican state representative from Wisconsin and chair of the state’s elections committee, has requested Wisconsin perform an audit of 2020 election materials, which was inspired by the taxpayer-funded circus in Arizona, POLITICO reports.  

“State officials like Janel Brandtjen calling for election ‘audits’ is all about pushing The Big Lie to pathetically win political plaudits from twice-impeached former president Trump,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “Not only are these baseless audits a waste of taxpayer dollars, they are causing irreversible damage to our democracy by sowing doubt about the results of legitimate elections in the minds of millions of voters. These ‘auditors’ cannot continue to fly under the radar as they attempt to rig future elections in their favor and destroy democracy along the way.” 

Brandtjen has used her position in the state assembly to cast doubt over the integrity of Wisconsin’s elections. She continues to lead the charge pushing The Big Lie through her chairing  of the Campaigns and Elections Committee, which she has used to sow doubt in the integrity of the 2020 election. The Wisconsin audit is inspired by the one in Arizona, after Brandtjen and a group of Wisconsin Republicans visited the bogus “audit” in Maricopa County. Both “audits” are driven by Trump supporters in an attempt to cast doubt in the minds of voters and overturn the 2020 results. These audits are part of a systematic and coordinated effort by far-right representatives to undermine our right to vote and rig future elections in their favor. 

This isn’t Brandtjen’s first attempt at trying to undermine our election integrity. She has a long history of perpetuating The Big Lie and other conspiracy theories as a state legislator: 

• Brandtjen has used her position to cast doubt in the integrity of elections in Wisconsin and pushed Trump’s efforts to push the Big Lie and downplay the insurrection. Wisconsin Assembly Republicans utilized the Campaigns and Elections Committee to sow doubt in the 2020 election, with Brandtjen leading the charge. She also led a group of Wisconsin Republicans who visited the bogus “audit” in Maricopa County, Arizona that is driven by Trump supporters in an attempt to sow doubt in the election.
• Brandtjen downplayed that the visit to Arizona was to try and prove Donald Trump really won the election, saying it instead related to election process questions. But in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, Brandtjen pushed the Big Lie, saying there was “no doubt” that “Donald Trump won this election in Wisconsin,” and that “several methods of fraud were used to change the outcome.”
• Brandtjen criticized DC police actions during the January 6th insurrection, saying Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot, was an “unarmed veteran” who was “trying to climb through a window.”
• Brandtjen has a Parler account. The 47 people she has chosen to follow includes Laura Loomer, a self-described “proud Islamophobe” who has been banned by Twitter and Clubhouse for anti-Muslim statements, and One America News anchor Jack Posobiec, who the SPLC has said was tied to a network of white supremacist actors.

Read more from POLITICO here. 

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