GOP lawmaker suggests Wisconsin electors choose presidential winner
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, of New Berlin, said he doesn't trust the election process or the outcome of results.
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, of New Berlin, said he doesn't trust the election process or the outcome of results.
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, of New Berlin, said he doesn't trust the election process or the outcome of results.
A Wisconsin Republican is suggesting the state's electors choose whether President Donald Trump or President-elect Joe Biden receive Wisconsin's 10 Electoral College votes.
Biden won the state with more than 20,000 votes.
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, of New Berlin, said he doesn't trust the election process or the outcome of results.
He is a member of the Assembly Committee tasked by Speaker Robin Vos with investigating the election.
Sanfelippo is calling for an outside audit into what he said was a wide range of irregularities that cast doubt on the results.
There has been no evidence of any election fraud.
He was reelected last Tuesday.
"You either have to toss this election out and have a whole new election, or we have our delegates to the Electoral College vote for the person they think legitimately should have won," Sanfelippo said.
He suggested electors could decide on their own to award Wisconsin's 10 Electoral votes to Trump instead of Biden.
"They would effectively be nullifying the votes of the 3 million plus Wisconsinites," UW-Madison Law Professor Rob Yablon said.
He added that is not allowed under current Wisconsin law and can't see the Legislature trying to change it.
"The electors that were chosen on Election Day are legally bound to vote for the candidate that won the popular vote in Wisconsin," Yablon said. "And if the Legislature attempted to appoint its own substitute slate of electors, it's hard to see how that would be legitimate."
The Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed.
"In Wisconsin, the state Legislature plays no role in certifying or deciding which slate of electors vote in the Electoral College," the commission said in a statement to WISN 12 News.
Those electors "must vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them."
"I think it is sickening for someone to take it that far and say we have to declare an election null and void because, again, it assaulted your sensibilities that your candidate didn't win," State Rep. LaKeshia Myers, D-Milwaukee, said.
"Democrats have created a cloud of suspicion over this election because they refuse to follow state election laws. Conducting such an investigation prior to certifying the election is essential and the only way our citizens will believe the results reported are legitimate," Sanfelippo said.
The state election commission does not have any authority over the electoral process.
In its election guidelines, it clearly states, "In Wisconsin, the state Legislature plays no role in certifying or deciding which slate of electors vote in the electoral college."
Nevertheless, the process will continue to play out until the vote in Wisconsin is certified next month.