In Wisconsin, Trump and his allies are already rejecting the election results with just early voting underway – following the Election Denier Playbook. Trump Republicans know that the vast majority of us want Wisconsin to be a place where all of our rights are respected and freedoms are protected. That’s why today they are trying to delegitimize voting systems in order to make it harder for people to vote, and essentially pick their own voters, laying the groundwork to question election results if they lose by further discrediting election officials. These election deniers are calling on their MAGA constituents to harass election workers, spread conspiracies about voting irregularities, and even commit violence to protect the election outcomes they want. Wisconsinites believe that for democracy to work for all of us, it must include all of us. We must come together to turn out as voters and ensure we choose who represents us.
Step 1: Undermine the Will of Voters By Amplifying False Allegations of Voting Irregularities, Fraud, and Wild Conspiracy Theories.
Trump and his allies are already trying to convince Wisconsin voters that any Republican losses are illegitimate or fraudulent by default. The Wisconsin GOP has continued to embrace blatant lies about elections well into the midterm election cycle, courting dozens of election deniers in an effort to diminish public confidence in the system’s ability to reflect the will of voters. In an effort to combat MAGA lies, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has earmarked $1.3 million to create an office tasked with fighting misinformation and boosting public confidence in election results. Wisconsin MAGA Republicans’ commitment to Trump’s election conspiracies indicates that they have no plans to stand in the way of his continued efforts to undermine the electoral process in Wisconsin.
Step 2: Make False Claims About Election Security And Demand Changes That Limit Ballot Access.
Trump-aligned figures are relentlessly targeting Wisconsin’s voting infrastructure, claiming without evidence that the process is ripe for fraud. The Wisconsin GOP is working tirelessly to prevent easy access to voting, and Wisconsin has become the fourth-hardest state to vote in as of 2022. They continue to enact and defend a host of bills, initiatives, and court rulings imposing strict and unconstitutional ballot access restrictions – including a ban on absentee ballot drop boxes, ballot envelope completion restrictions, and two anti-voter resolutions.
These efforts are designed to damage the credibility of our democratic institutions and undermine trust in the electoral process. By making false claims about absentee ballots, election deniers are pushing changes to the election system that would make it much more difficult to vote in Wisconsin.
Step 3: Discredit Election Officials, Especially in Areas of High Voter Turnout.
Trump Republicans are working to delegitimize election processes throughout Wisconsin, particularly in areas with high turnout against their candidates like Milwaukee. In November 2020, Trump baselessly accused local leaders of fabricating “dumps” of hundreds of thousands of ballots and demanded a recount in the county shortly after the election.
This year, Trump and his allies are already working to delegitimize election officials presiding over the largest city in the state. Wisconsin officials – including Senator Ron Johnson – are telling voters that Milwaukee elections are not credible. Sen. Johnson has even urged his constituents not to vote early in the city, casting doubt on local voting systems’ poll observers. Echoing Johnson, right-wing news anchor Sean Hannity told his audience “you can never trust the vote counting” in Milwaukee. These MAGA efforts are part of a larger movement of election deniers working to discredit the state’s electoral processes as early voting surges in Wisconsin.
Step 4: Train Supporters To Become Election Officials and Call on Supporters to Threaten Election Officials and Harass Voters.
MAGA Republicans are fueling a wave of harassment and threats of violence directed at poll workers and officials in the weeks ahead of the midterms. Following in Trump’s footsteps, MAGA groups are targeting state and local election administrators, pushing for audits and investigations, challenging voter registrations, and inundating election offices with waves of identical records requests. In response, Dane County officials have expressed fears that security protocols may not be enough to deter violent confrontations from MAGA constituents after the election, calling the county’s security “a joke” as Milwaukee’s top election officials are bracing for confrontational poll watchers fueled by Trump’s election lies.
Trump and his allies have spent months organizing a well-coordinated network of election deniers to threaten voters and election officials who refuse to go along with their plans – and the threats have only intensified.
Step 5: Reject the Results, Spread Lies About Election Fraud, and Intimidate Voters During the Election.
For months, Trump and MAGA Republicans in Wisconsin have been laying the groundwork to declare that unfavorable election results are supposedly rigged. Trump and his allies are already refusing to accept the results, spreading lies about election security, discrediting Wisconsin election officials, and calling on their supporters to harass election administrators with threats of violence. As we draw closer to Election Day, they will only continue working to undermine the will of American voters.
