The flurry of lawsuits President Donald Trump and his allies have filed in Wisconsin since the Nov. 3 election have mostly concerned the manner in which absentee voting was conducted: how clerks interpreted and carried out the laws that have long governed elections in the state.
In their court filings, the Trump campaign and others have generally avoided specific claims of fraud — even if the chief player in this drama, the president himself, regularly insists, without evidence, that the election was “rigged” and that he “easily” beat President-elect Joe Biden.
But at the heart of the challenges and a related investigation by state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, into “thousands of complaints” about the election, is the suggestion that someone — or many someones — voted illegally, tampered with the ballots or altered the vote totals.
State and local election clerks have found no evidence of any widespread fraud.
But say you did want to steal the election. What would that take, exactly?
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(To be clear, the Wisconsin State Journal does not endorse election fraud; doing any of the following could result in a $10,000 fine and up to 3½ years of combined prison and extended supervision.)
Madison police keep an eye on boxes of ballots during a recount of the votes in Dane County at Monona Terrace last month.
Start with the voter.
Say you’re not eligible to vote in Wisconsin, either because you’re from out of state, not a citizen or a felon still under supervision. Before you can receive a ballot, you’d need to register. To register online, you’ll need to provide a valid state driver’s license or ID card that matches a name, date of birth and address on file with the Division of Motor Vehicles.
If there’s no match — and there wouldn’t be if you’re attempting to cheat the system — you’d need to register by mail or in person by providing an acceptable ID or, if you can’t come up with that, the last four digits of your Social Security Number. You’d also need to provide proof of residence, such as a falsified utility bill or a bank statement. Can’t produce either an ID or a Social Security Number? You’ll still need to provide a current address.
Whatever address you provide needs to be a real address, because once you’re registered the clerk will send you a postcard to confirm it. If it comes back as undeliverable, the clerk will try to reach you a second time with a letter. If that fails, your registration status will be changed to “ineligible” and any request for an absentee ballot would be rejected.
But assuming you can register, you’d next need to request an absentee ballot. To do so online, you’ll need to provide a copy of your driver’s license or other acceptable ID. You can get around that requirement by falsely declaring you’re confined to your home because of age or disability (“indefinitely confined”).
Based on data from this year’s election, this is likely the one place where many people are bending the rules. For the November election, 237,729 voters self-identified as indefinitely confined, up from 66,611 in 2016 — likely due to voters seeking to avoid going to the polls during a pandemic. But you can’t just check the box and get a ballot; you still need to be registered and provide an actual address.
Once you’ve voted, you’ll also need to have an accomplice sign the ballot envelope as a witness before you mail it in.
But if you’ve managed to do all this under an assumed identity, that would be one vote down.
Statement by the Wisconsin Elections Commission addressing unfounded rumors about election results.
Thy neighbor’s vote
Now, say you want to vote again by, for example, appropriating your neighbor’s absentee ballot.
It would help to know whether he’s already requested a ballot. For that, you’d need to look him up on the state’s public voter database, myvote.wi.gov. You’ll also need to know his date of birth.
If he hasn’t asked for a ballot yet, you could pretend to be him and request it. Unless you’ve also stolen his driver’s license, you’d have to indicate at this point that he’s indefinitely confined to get around the license requirement.
Once the ballot is on its way, you’d need to intercept it (be warned, however: stealing mail is a federal crime). After filling it out and forging his signature and that of your accomplice witness on the ballot envelope, you’d mail it back.
Of course, for the scheme to work, you’d need to ensure that your neighbor doesn’t request another ballot because he never got the first one, or that he doesn’t go to the polls on Election Day. In either case, a poll worker would see in the poll book that a ballot had already been requested or returned under his name, sparking an investigation.
But assuming he didn’t vote — never a safe assumption in high-turnout elections like a presidential race — that’s two votes down, each at the risk of thousands of dollars in fines and years in prison.
To swing an election decided by more than 20,600 votes, the process would need to be repeated flawlessly thousands of times, presumably by many co-conspirators working together, without being found out.
Go big or go home
What if instead of retail, you went wholesale? How might you tamper with hundreds or thousands of votes before they’re counted?
Wisconsin provides for in-person absentee voting during the two weeks before Election Day, typically at a municipal clerk’s office. But to get to those ballots, you’d need to defeat a rigorous chain of custody set out in state law.
When ballots are moved from a polling site to the clerk’s office, or from the clerk’s office to a polling site to be counted, election officials are required to document who comes into contact with them. When they’re stored, they must be held in containers with tamper-evident seals or in places for which only a few have the key.
So, for example, if Madison offers in-person early voting at a library branch, the person running that site and the person taking the ballots back to the clerk’s office for storage will count the ballots at the end of the day and put them in a sealed bag.
Responses to common misinformation and disinformation narratives about elections.
“There’s no real way to get into that bag without breaking that seal,” said Madison Deputy Clerk Jim Verbick.
At the clerk’s office, the seal is broken and the ballots are placed in a secure room until they are taken to the polling places where they will be counted on Election Day.
If you wanted to tamper with the ballots on Election Day — when all ballots, including absentee ballots, are tabulated — the hurdles are even higher. While members of the public are allowed to observe the activities at polling sites on Election Day, they aren’t allowed to touch any ballots (besides their own) or voting equipment.
To handle the ballots, you’d have to be a poll worker. And you’d need an accomplice, since poll workers work in pairs.
Not just anyone can become a poll worker, though. Among other things you must be registered to vote in the county where you’re looking to work, undergo training, take an oath and not be on the ballot or related to anyone who is.
Preference goes to people nominated by the major political parties. The party that received the most votes for governor or president in a ward in the most recent general election gets four workers at that ward’s polling site, and the losing party gets three, for a minimum of seven workers at each site.
Having at least seven people, often from opposing parties, reduces the chance that any one of them could commit fraud without being detected. Add in election observers and members of the media legally allowed to observe polling sites, and the opportunities to create widespread fraud in the counting of ballots diminish ever further.
The process of counting the ballots at the end of Election Day — either at polling sites or, in a handful of municipalities, a central location known as a “central count” site — is also open to the public, the press and other observers as is the canvas, in which election workers reconcile the number of voters who received a ballot with the number of ballots cast. In the rare case where there are more of the latter than the former, state law sets out a public procedure for randomly “drawing down” the total number of votes.
“There are no dark corners or locked doors in elections,” Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said last month in response to vague complaints by Trump about voting irregularities in the state.
Machine tampering
Not conspiratorial enough? How about rigging the machines that count the votes?
The No. 1 barrier to this approach is that most ballot-counting machines are not connected to the internet, although some briefly transmit encrypted unofficial results to county clerks’ offices after the polls close. That means you’d need to gain physical access to them to fiddle with their electronic innards.
But that presents many of the same hurdles as gaining access to tranches of ballots. As they must do with ballots, election officials are required to document who handled the voting machines as they move from storage to polling sites. The machines and other voting equipment — such as thumb drives containing ballot totals — must similarly be secured with tamper-evident seals.
Voting machines must also be tested for accuracy and be approved by the Elections Commission and the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission before they can be used in Wisconsin elections. Once approved, the machines are publicly tested before every election to make sure they’re functioning correctly. Any errors found must be corrected before they can be used in an election.
Even with those safeguards, Wisconsin is one of 37 states that require paper records of vote totals. That means if machines fail or are tampered with, election officials can return to the paper ballots or the paper tapes produced by the machines to double-check results.
If you’ve somehow managed to evade all these checks, there is one last one. After each general election, the Elections Commission selects 5% of municipalities — including at least one in each county — to hand-count the ballots and compare the results to what the machines produced. A separate audit is done on all voters to look for any who may have been ineligible, while the state also participates in joint audits with 29 other states and the District of Columbia to identify people who may have voted in more than one state.
Finally, to steal an election, you’d need to count on the collective failure of the career civil service and law enforcement personnel who scrutinize elections to miss all of this suspicious activity.
Some degree of fraud, errors and irregularities occurs with every election. Post-election audits routinely turn up a small number of voters who broke the rules by, say, submitting an absentee ballot and then going to the polls on Election Day to vote a second time. When they’re discovered, such cases are referred to prosecutors.
But authorities have so far found no evidence that such activity is any more widespread this year than in previous elections. They include U.S. Attorney William Barr, who earlier this month told the Associated Press his office had seen no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have changed the outcome of the election.
The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which works to protect the nation’s critical computer systems and is led by a Trump appointee, last month declared the November election “the most secure in American history.”
Put simply, the agency said, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
Watch Now: Scenes from the polls on Election Day in Wisconsin
Wisconsin has lived up to expectations it would have outsized influence in the presidential election. See scenes from Election Day across the state.
The results are in: See how Wisconsin voted in top state and local races
PRESIDENT, U.S. HOUSE
President
3,689 of 3,689 precincts - 100 percent
x-Joe Biden, Dem 1,630,548 - 50 percent
Donald Trump, GOP (i) 1,610,007 - 49 percent
Jo Jorgensen, Lib 38,414 - 1 percent
Brian Carroll, ASP 5,253 - 0 percent
Don Blankenship, CST 5,205 - 0 percent
U.S. House District 1 SE corner, Kenosha
370 of 370 precincts - 100 percent
x-Bryan Steil, GOP (i) 238,257 - 59 percent
Roger Polack, Dem 163,154 - 41 percent
U.S. House District 3 West Central
605 of 605 precincts - 100 percent
x-Ron Kind, Dem (i) 199,798 - 51 percent
Derrick Van Orden, GOP 188,825 - 49 percent
U.S. House District 5 SE, Milwaukee subs
364 of 364 precincts - 100 percent
x-Scott Fitzgerald, GOP 265,417 - 60 percent
Tom Palzewicz, Dem 175,872 - 40 percent
U.S. House District 6 East Central
428 of 428 precincts - 100 percent
x-Glenn Grothman, GOP (i) 238,858 - 59 percent
Jessica King, Dem 164,215 - 41 percent
U.S. House District 7 North
711 of 711 precincts - 100 percent
x-Tom Tiffany, GOP (i) 251,998 - 61 percent
Tricia Zunker, Dem 162,724 - 39 percent
WISCONSIN STATE SENATE
District 6
98 of 98 precincts - 100 percent
x-La Tonya Johnson, Dem (i) 60,051 - 89 percent
Alciro Deacon, GOP 7,555 - 11 percent
District 8
91 of 91 precincts - 100 percent
x-Alberta Darling, GOP (i) 64,905 - 54 percent
Neal Plotkin, Dem 54,692 - 46 percent
District 10
101 of 101 precincts - 100 percent
x-Rob Stafsholt, GOP 61,889 - 60 percent
Patty Schachtner, Dem (i) 41,211 - 40 percent
District 12
180 of 182 precincts - 99 percent
x-Mary Czaja-Felzkowski, GOP 68,679 - 66 percent
Ed Vocke, Dem 34,598 - 34 percent
District 14
152 of 152 precincts - 100 percent
x-Joan Ballweg, GOP 61,877 - 65 percent
Joni Anderson, Dem 33,453 - 35 percent
District 16
69 of 69 precincts - 100 percent
x-Melissa Agard Sargent, Dem 83,515 - 73 percent
Scott Barker, GOP 30,119 - 27 percent
District 18
106 of 106 precincts - 100 percent
x-Dan Feyen, GOP (i) 52,490 - 59 percent
Aaron Wojciechowski, Dem 36,274 - 41 percent
District 24
121 of 121 precincts - 100 percent
x-Patrick Testin, GOP (i) 53,717 - 57 percent
Paul Piotrowski, Dem 41,348 - 43 percent
District 28
91 of 91 precincts - 100 percent
x-Julian Bradley, GOP 64,179 - 60 percent
Adam Murphy, Dem 43,390 - 40 percent
District 30
65 of 65 precincts - 100 percent
x-Eric Wimberger, GOP 47,945 - 55 percent
Jonathon Hansen, Dem 39,711 - 45 percent
District 32
131 of 131 precincts - 100 percent
Brad Pfaff, Dem 48,853 - 50 percent
Dan Kapanke, GOP 48,264 - 50 percent
WISCONSIN STATE ASSEMBLY
District 1
41 of 41 precincts - 100 percent
x-Joel Kitchens, GOP (i) 23,441 - 62 percent
Kim Delorit Jensen, Dem 14,463 - 38 percent
District 2
29 of 29 precincts - 100 percent
x-Shae Sortwell, GOP (i) 22,244 - 63 percent
Mark Kiley, Dem 12,970 - 37 percent
District 3
30 of 30 precincts - 100 percent
x-Ron Tusler, GOP (i) 21,314 - 59 percent
Emily Voight, Dem 14,702 - 41 percent
District 4
22 of 22 precincts - 100 percent
x-David Steffen, GOP (i) 17,811 - 53 percent
Kathy Hinkfuss, Dem 15,804 - 47 percent
District 6
47 of 47 precincts - 100 percent
x-Gary Tauchen, GOP (i) 21,283 - 69 percent
Richard Sarnwick, Dem 9,398 - 31 percent
District 8
27 of 27 precincts - 100 percent
x-Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Dem 8,914 - 79 percent
Angel Sanchez, GOP 2,375 - 21 percent
District 9
32 of 32 precincts - 100 percent
x-Marisabel Cabrera, Dem (i) 11,980 - 73 percent
Veronica Diaz, GOP 4,458 - 27 percent
District 11
33 of 33 precincts - 100 percent
x-Dora Drake, Dem 18,329 - 85 percent
Orlando Owens, GOP 3,299 - 15 percent
District 12
27 of 27 precincts - 100 percent
x-LaKeshia Myers, Dem (i) 18,539 - 82 percent
Ozell Cox, GOP 4,117 - 18 percent
District 13
30 of 30 precincts - 100 percent
Sara Rodriguez, Dem 19,296 - 51 percent
Rob Hutton, GOP (i) 18,571 - 49 percent
District 14
35 of 35 precincts - 100 percent
x-Robyn Vining, Dem (i) 21,370 - 54 percent
Bonnie Lee, GOP 18,185 - 46 percent
District 15
27 of 27 precincts - 100 percent
x-Joe Sanfelippo, GOP (i) 17,133 - 55 percent
Jessica Katzenmeyer, Dem 14,134 - 45 percent
District 16
31 of 31 precincts - 100 percent
x-Kalan Haywood, Dem (i) 17,662 - 89 percent
Dennis Walton, Ind 2,153 - 11 percent
District 17
34 of 34 precincts - 100 percent
x-Supreme Moore Omokunde, Dem 22,417 - 86 percent
Abie Eisenbach, GOP 3,638 - 14 percent
District 19
29 of 29 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jonathan Brostoff, Dem (i) 27,547 - 79 percent
Helmut Fritz, GOP 7,534 - 21 percent
District 21
12 of 12 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jessie Rodriguez, GOP (i) 17,729 - 55 percent
Erik Brooks, Dem 14,708 - 45 percent
District 23
32 of 32 precincts - 100 percent
x-Deb Andraca, Dem 21,052 - 52 percent
Jim Ott, GOP (i) 19,727 - 48 percent
District 24
24 of 24 precincts - 100 percent
Dan Knodl, GOP (i) 20,075 - 51 percent
Emily Siegrist, Dem 18,923 - 49 percent
District 25
29 of 29 precincts - 100 percent
x-Paul Tittl, GOP (i) 19,591 - 65 percent
Kerry Trask, Dem 10,700 - 35 percent
District 26
26 of 26 precincts - 100 percent
x-Terry Katsma, GOP (i) 18,222 - 59 percent
Mary Donohue, Dem 12,674 - 41 percent
District 28
45 of 45 precincts - 100 percent
x-Gae Magnafici, GOP (i) 21,646 - 64 percent
Kim Butler, Dem 12,221 - 36 percent
District 29
36 of 36 precincts - 100 percent
x-Clint Moses, GOP 18,958 - 60 percent
John Calabrese, Dem 12,521 - 40 percent
District 30
20 of 20 precincts - 100 percent
x-Shannon Zimmerman, GOP (i) 20,712 - 56 percent
Sarah Yacoub, Dem 16,322 - 44 percent
District 31
36 of 36 precincts - 100 percent
x-Amy Loudenbeck, GOP (i) 19,961 - 60 percent
Elizabeth Lochner-Abel, Dem 13,549 - 40 percent
District 32
19 of 19 precincts - 100 percent
x-Tyler August, GOP (i) 20,158 - 62 percent
Katherine Gaulke, Dem 12,455 - 38 percent
District 33
19 of 19 precincts - 100 percent
x-Cody Horlacher, GOP (i) 21,496 - 62 percent
Mason Becker, Dem 13,227 - 38 percent
District 34
53 of 53 precincts - 100 percent
x-Rob Swearingen, GOP (i) 24,652 - 63 percent
Kirk Bangstad, Dem 14,267 - 37 percent
District 35
70 of 70 precincts - 100 percent
x-Calvin Callahan, GOP 20,920 - 65 percent
Tyler Ruprecht, Dem 11,105 - 35 percent
District 37
28 of 28 precincts - 100 percent
x-John Jagler, GOP (i) 19,407 - 56 percent
Abigail Lowery, Dem 14,142 - 41 percent
Stephen Ratzlaff, Ind 1,041 - 3 percent
District 38
31 of 31 precincts - 100 percent
x-Barbara Dittrich, GOP (i) 22,786 - 59 percent
Melissa Winker, Dem 16,162 - 41 percent
District 39
40 of 40 precincts - 100 percent
x-Mark Born, GOP (i) 22,085 - 69 percent
Izzy Nevarez, Dem 10,049 - 31 percent
District 40
47 of 47 precincts - 100 percent
x-Kevin Petersen, GOP (i) 21,893 - 69 percent
Deb Silvers, Dem 9,651 - 31 percent
District 41
50 of 50 precincts - 100 percent
x-Alex Dallman, GOP 18,602 - 61 percent
Nate Zimdars, Dem 10,428 - 34 percent
Jean Bartz, Ind 1,679 - 5 percent
District 42
55 of 55 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jon Plumer, GOP (i) 19,403 - 59 percent
Melisa Arndt, Dem 13,379 - 41 percent
District 43
41 of 41 precincts - 100 percent
x-Don Vruwink, Dem (i) 17,641 - 55 percent
Beth Drew, GOP 14,262 - 45 percent
District 44
25 of 25 precincts - 100 percent
x-Sue Conley, Dem 17,201 - 60 percent
DuWayne Severson, GOP 11,333 - 40 percent
District 45
38 of 38 precincts - 100 percent
x-Mark Spreitzer, Dem (i) 14,451 - 55 percent
Tawny Gustina, GOP 11,895 - 45 percent
District 46
11 of 11 precincts - 100 percent
x-Gary Hebl, Dem (i) 25,918 - 68 percent
Terry Lyon, GOP 12,330 - 32 percent
District 47
27 of 27 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jimmy Anderson, Dem (i) 27,943 - 75 percent
Phil Anderson, GOP 9,331 - 25 percent
District 48
31 of 31 precincts - 100 percent
x-Samba Baldeh, Dem 30,068 - 80 percent
Samuel Anderson, GOP 7,649 - 20 percent
District 49
69 of 69 precincts - 100 percent
x-Travis Tranel, GOP (i) 16,663 - 59 percent
Shaun Murphy-Lopez, Dem 11,370 - 41 percent
District 50
65 of 65 precincts - 100 percent
x-Tony Kurtz, GOP (i) 18,756 - 63 percent
Mark Waldon, Dem 10,863 - 37 percent
District 51
60 of 60 precincts - 100 percent
x-Todd Novak, GOP (i) 15,931 - 52 percent
Kriss Marion, Dem 14,726 - 48 percent
District 52
38 of 38 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jeremy Thiesfeldt, GOP (i) 19,028 - 62 percent
Julie Schroeder, Dem 11,674 - 38 percent
District 53
41 of 41 precincts - 100 percent
x-Michael Schraa, GOP (i) 19,758 - 69 percent
Joseph Connelly, Ind 9,054 - 31 percent
District 54
28 of 28 precincts - 100 percent
x-Gordon Hintz, Dem (i) 15,487 - 54 percent
Donny Herman, GOP 13,063 - 46 percent
District 55
19 of 19 precincts - 100 percent
x-Rachael Cabral-Guevara, GOP 19,056 - 55 percent
Daniel Schierl, Dem 15,658 - 45 percent
District 56
43 of 43 precincts - 100 percent
x-Dave Murphy, GOP (i) 23,081 - 61 percent
Diana Lawrence, Dem 15,054 - 39 percent
District 57
30 of 30 precincts - 100 percent
x-Lee Snodgrass, Dem 15,969 - 57 percent
Eric Beach, GOP 12,275 - 43 percent
District 62
19 of 19 precincts - 100 percent
x-Robert Wittke, GOP (i) 20,537 - 59 percent
August Schutz, Dem 14,463 - 41 percent
District 63
17 of 17 precincts - 100 percent
x-Robin Vos, GOP (i) 19,919 - 58 percent
Joel Jacobsen, Dem 14,131 - 42 percent
District 64
70 of 70 precincts - 100 percent
x-Tip McGuire, Dem (i) 16,364 - 56 percent
Ed Hibsch, GOP 12,813 - 44 percent
District 65
45 of 45 precincts - 100 percent
x-Tod Ohnstad, Dem (i) 14,355 - 60 percent
Crystal Miller, GOP 9,444 - 40 percent
District 66
26 of 26 precincts - 100 percent
x-Greta Neubauer, Dem (i) 14,519 - 70 percent
Will Leverson, GOP 6,130 - 30 percent
District 67
54 of 54 precincts - 100 percent
x-Rob Summerfield, GOP (i) 21,180 - 64 percent
Chris Kapsner, Dem 11,921 - 36 percent
District 68
47 of 47 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jesse James, GOP (i) 19,003 - 61 percent
Emily Berge, Dem 12,161 - 39 percent
District 69
61 of 61 precincts - 100 percent
x-Donna Rozar, GOP 18,567 - 66 percent
Brian Giles, Dem 9,603 - 34 percent
District 70
58 of 58 precincts - 100 percent
x-Nancy VanderMeer, GOP (i) 20,687 - 67 percent
John Baldus, Dem 10,317 - 33 percent
District 71
31 of 31 precincts - 100 percent
x-Katrina Shankland, Dem (i) 17,753 - 55 percent
Scott Soik, GOP 14,306 - 45 percent
District 72
32 of 32 precincts - 100 percent
x-Scott Krug, GOP (i) 19,210 - 60 percent
Criste Greening, Dem 12,619 - 40 percent
District 73
47 of 47 precincts - 100 percent
Nick Milroy, Dem (i) 16,621 - 50 percent
Keith Kern, GOP 16,482 - 50 percent
District 74
93 of 93 precincts - 100 percent
x-Beth Meyers, Dem (i) 18,160 - 51 percent
James Bolen, GOP 17,163 - 49 percent
District 75
55 of 55 precincts - 100 percent
x-David Armstrong, GOP 20,102 - 62 percent
John Ellenson, Dem 12,134 - 38 percent
District 76
26 of 26 precincts - 100 percent
x-Francesca Hong, Dem 35,727 - 88 percent
Patrick Hull, GOP 4,777 - 12 percent
District 79
45 of 45 precincts - 100 percent
x-Dianne Hesselbein, Dem (i) 29,717 - 67 percent
Victoria Fueger, GOP 14,505 - 33 percent
District 80
44 of 44 precincts - 100 percent
x-Sondy Pope, Dem (i) 26,520 - 65 percent
Chase Binnie, GOP 14,589 - 35 percent
District 81
33 of 33 precincts - 100 percent
x-Dave Considine, Dem (i) 18,913 - 57 percent
David Dahlke, GOP 14,312 - 43 percent
District 82
33 of 33 precincts - 100 percent
x-Ken Skowronski, GOP (i) 17,205 - 50 percent
Jacob Malinowski, Dem 15,925 - 47 percent
Marc Ciske, Ind 1,098 - 3 percent
District 83
22 of 22 precincts - 100 percent
x-Chuck Wichgers, GOP (i) 27,019 - 70 percent
Alan DeYoung, Dem 11,747 - 30 percent
District 85
42 of 42 precincts - 100 percent
x-Patrick Snyder, GOP (i) 16,598 - 55 percent
Jeff Johnson, Dem 13,515 - 45 percent
District 87
89 of 89 precincts - 100 percent
x-James Edming, GOP (i) 21,569 - 71 percent
Richard Pulcher, Dem 8,883 - 29 percent
District 88
20 of 20 precincts - 100 percent
x-John Macco, GOP (i) 17,211 - 52 percent
Kristin Lyerly, Dem 15,673 - 48 percent
District 89
20 of 20 precincts - 100 percent
x-John Nygren, GOP (i) 22,823 - 69 percent
Karl Jaeger, Dem 10,374 - 31 percent
District 90
25 of 25 precincts - 100 percent
x-Kristina Shelton, Dem 12,756 - 60 percent
Drew Kirsteatter, GOP 8,429 - 40 percent
District 91
41 of 41 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jodi Emerson, Dem (i) 18,758 - 62 percent
Charlie Walker, GOP 11,529 - 38 percent
District 92
70 of 70 precincts - 100 percent
x-Treig Pronschinske, GOP (i) 17,270 - 59 percent
Amanda WhiteEagle, Dem 12,197 - 41 percent
District 93
80 of 80 precincts - 100 percent
x-Warren Petryk, GOP (i) 22,181 - 62 percent
Charlene Charlie Warner, Dem 13,769 - 38 percent
District 94
24 of 24 precincts - 100 percent
x-Steve Doyle, Dem (i) 19,155 - 52 percent
Kevin Hoyer, GOP 16,507 - 45 percent
Leroy Brown, Ind 868 - 2 percent
District 95
31 of 31 precincts - 100 percent
x-Jill Billings, Dem (i) 19,682 - 66 percent
Jerome Gundersen, GOP 10,270 - 34 percent
District 96
76 of 76 precincts - 100 percent
x-Loren Oldenburg, GOP (i) 16,812 - 56 percent
Josefine Jaynes, Dem 13,066 - 44 percent
District 97
40 of 40 precincts - 100 percent
x-Scott Allen, GOP (i) 18,555 - 59 percent
Aaron Perry, Dem 12,770 - 41 percent
SCHOOL REFERENDUMS
CLINTON
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Borrow $32 million for additions and renovations
x-Yes 1,764..........52.0%
No 1,613..........48.0%
Question 2: Exceed revenue limit by $500,000 a year for four years
x-Yes 1,758..........52.0%
No 1,596..........48.0%
DEERFIELD
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $500,000 a year for five years
x-Yes 1,753..........68.0%
No 0,831..........32.0%
JANESVILLE
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Borrow $22.5 million for building improvements
x-Yes 20,842..........67.0%
No 10,255..........33.0%
Question 2: Exceed revenue limits by varying amounts totaling $37 million over four years
x-Yes 16,998..........55.0%
No 13,815..........45.0%
MADISON
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Exceed revenue limits by varying amounts totaling $33 million over four years
x-Yes 121,002..........76.0%
No 37,442..........24.0%
Question 2: Borrow $317 million for building improvements
x-Yes 125,842..........80.0%
No 32,290..........20.0%
MILTON
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $2.5 million a year for five years
x-Yes 6,300..........50.0%
No 6,257..........50.0%
MONONA GROVE
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $3.7 million a year for four years
x-Yes 7,279..........60.0%
No 4,898..........40.0%
PECATONICA
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $490,000 a year, recurring
x-Yes 1,112..........64.0%
No 0,617..........36.0%
PORTAGE
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $3.7 million a year for five years
x-Yes 4,683..........56.0%
No 3,746..........44.0%
RICHLAND
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Exceed revenue limit by $1.25 million a year, recurring
x-Yes 2,771..........53.0%
No 2,500..........47.0%
Question 2: Borrow $27 million for capital improvements
x-No 2,669..........51.0%
Yes 2,575..........49.0%
WAUNAKEE
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $2.1 million a year for five years
x-Yes 8,491..........63.0%
No 5,077..........37.0%
WISCONSIN HEIGHTS
All precincts reporting
Borrow $27 million for new elementary school, other upgrades
x-Yes 2,138..........53.0%
No 1,910..........47.0%
OTHER COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL RACES AND REFERENDUMS
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Town of Arlington
All precincts reporting
Make the town clerk or town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 301..........62.0%
No 187..........38.0%
CRAWFORD COUNTY
All precincts reporting
Call on Wisconsin Legislature to create a nonpartisan procedure for redistricting
x-Yes 5,544..........70.0%
No 2,380..........30.0%
DANE COUNTY
Town of Roxbury
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Make the town clerk a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 704..........62.0%
No 434..........38.0%
Question 2: Make the town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 690..........61.0%
No 444..........39.0%
Town of York
All precincts reporting
Make the combined office of town clerk and town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 291..........70.0%
No 122..........30.0%
Village of Maple Bluff
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $862,409 a year, recurring
x-Yes 694..........66.0%
No 362..........34.0%
DODGE COUNTY
Town of Clyman
All precincts reporting
Make the town clerk and town treasurer positions appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 281..........64.0%
No 160..........36.0%
Town of Shields
All precincts reporting
Make the town clerk and town treasurer positions appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 253..........72.0%
No 98..........28.0%
City of Beaver Dam
All precincts reporting
Exceed revenue limit by $487,604 a year, recurring
x-Yes 5,127..........66.0%
No 2,591..........34.0%
GRANT COUNTY
Town of Watterstown
All precincts reporting
Provide residential garbage and recycling pickup in the Town of Watterstown
x-No 125..........63.0%
Yes 74..........37.0%
GREEN COUNTY
Town of Decatur
All precincts reporting
Allow ATVs and UTVs to travel on all town roads, not including Sugar River State Trail
x-Yes 636..........61.0%
No 413..........39.0%
Town of York
All precincts reporting
Make the town clerk and town treasurer positions appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 414 - 64%
No 235..........36.0%
Town of Sylvester
All precincts reporting
Make the combined office of town clerk and town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 418 - 66%
No 220..........34.0%
Town of Adams
All precincts reporting
Combine town clerk and town treasurer positions and make it appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 164 - 50%
No 162..........50.0%
Town of Monroe
All precincts reporting
Make the combined office of town clerk and town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-No 464 - 64%
Yes 265..........36.0%
IOWA COUNTY
All precincts reporting
Call on Wisconsin Legislature to create a nonpartisan procedure for redistricting
x-Yes 9,438 - 74%
No 3,348..........26.0%
Town of Waldwick
All precincts reporting
Allow ATVs and UTVs to travel on all town roads
x-Yes 172 - 58%
No 127..........42.0%
Village of Arena
All precincts reporting
Question 1: Exceed revenue limit by $75,000 a year for full-time EMT staff
x-No 258 - 54%
Yes 218..........46.0%
Question 2: Exceed revenue limit by $35,000 a year for employee raises 0,000..........0.0%
x-No 299 - 63%
Yes 174..........37.0%
Question 3: Exceed revenue limit by $55,000 a year for five years for street maintenance and capital equipment 0,000..........0.0%
x-No 295 - 63%
Yes 177..........38.0%
JEFFERSON COUNTY
All precincts reporting
Call on Wisconsin Legislature to create a nonpartisan procedure for redistricting
x-Yes 24,631 - 58%
No 17,662..........42.0%
Town of Palmyra
All precincts reporting
Make the combined office of town clerk and town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 463 - 59%
No 316..........41.0%
RICHLAND COUNTY
Town of Henrietta
All precincts reporting
Make the town clerk and town treasurer positions appointed by Town Board
x-No 122..........50.0%
Yes 120..........50.0%
ROCK COUNTY
Blackhawk Technical College District
All precincts reporting
Borrow $32 million for building additions and improvements
x-Yes 54,674..........58.0%
No 40,048..........42.0%
Town of Harmony
All precincts reporting
Make the town treasurer a position appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 1,020 - 60%
No 683..........40.0%
City of Evansville
All precincts reporting
Choice to build new aquatic center, demolish existing aquatic center and complete West Side Park (council will adopt whichever option gets the most votes)
x-Option 3: Neither 1,352 - 42%
Option 1: Borrow $9.4 million for proposed aquatics and sports improvements 1,054..........33.0%
Option 2: Borrow $11.2 million for proposed aquatics and sports improvements 784..........25.0%
SAUK COUNTY
Town of Dellona
All precincts reporting
Make the town treasurer and town clerk positions appointed by Town Board
x-Yes 649..........65.0%
No 347..........35.0%
Associated Press calls Wisconsin for Joe Biden; Trump campaign vows recount
Joe Biden has won Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes, moving the former vice president to the threshold of the presidency, depending on the outcome in just a few remaining swing states.
“Plain and simple, Donald Trump has lost Wisconsin, he is losing Michigan, and he is losing the presidency,” said Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates.
Biden’s lead in the unofficial vote tally was just over 20,500 votes, or about 0.6 of a percentage point, a nearly identical margin by which Trump won the state in 2016. Shortly before The Associated Press called the state for Biden, the Trump campaign vowed to “immediately” request a recount in Wisconsin.
“Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor-thin race as we always knew that it would be,” Bill Stepien, Trump campaign manager, said in a statement.
Stepien made unsubstantiated claims that there have been “reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results,” but did not elaborate.
The Biden campaign tore into those claims Wednesday afternoon.
“When Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 by roughly the same amount of votes that Joe Biden just did, or won Michigan with fewer votes than Joe Biden is winning it now, he bragged about a ‘landslide,’ and called recount efforts ‘sad,’” Bates said.
“What makes these charades especially pathetic is that while Trump is demanding recounts in places he has already lost, he’s simultaneously engaged in fruitless attempts to halt the counting of votes in other states in which he’s on the road to defeat. This is not the behavior of a winning campaign.”
If Biden’s advantage stays about where it is, Trump could request a recount, although his campaign would most likely need to pay for it. Under state law, if the election is within 1% of the winner’s total vote, the second-place candidate has the right to request a recount.
There is no cost to the losing candidate if the difference between the leading candidate is 0.25% or less. If the difference is more than 0.25%, the Wisconsin Elections Commission will estimate the cost, which must be paid before the recount begins.
The recount rules were enacted after Green Party candidate Jill Stein requested a recount in 2016, which resulted in a net gain of 131 votes for Trump.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed into law the recount rule changes, which effectively blocked his campaign from seeking a recount when he lost the 2018 election by 1.1 percentage points. On Wednesday he called Biden’s lead in the state a “high hurdle” for Trump to overcome, although not impossible if the canvassing of results shifts things.
For now, attention turns toward certifying election results. Each of Wisconsin’s 1,850 municipalities must complete their counts by 4 p.m. Wednesday. Then, counties begin canvassing and results are certified by the state Elections Commission by Dec. 1.
Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe said the election process followed state laws, which do not permit the counting of absentee ballots before Election Day and allow municipalities to count absentee ballots at a central location, which results in late updates to the totals.
“There are no dark corners or locked doors in elections,” Wolfe said in a press briefing Wednesday morning. “Anybody was free to watch those processes as they unfolded yesterday.”
Wolfe emphasized in the coming days and weeks, municipal, county and state elections officials will begin the process of meticulously double- and triple-checking the results through the canvassing process.
The state will also begin a random selection of 5% of the voting equipment used in this election, which must be audited to ensure the paper tally matches the tally from the voting equipment.
“I think that it’s insulting to our local election officials to say that yesterday’s election was anything but an incredible success that was the result of years of preparation and meticulously, carefully following the law,” Wolfe said.
Evers offers assurance
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers during a media call Wednesday assured Wisconsinites of a fair and accurate election result, and urged patience as “every vote is being counted and every single voter is being heard.”
He said the Trump campaign is welcome to seek a recount, but expects Biden’s lead in the state to be insurmountable.
The final results could shift slightly after provisional ballots are tallied. Such ballots are an option for voters who don’t have the proper photo ID at the polls on Election Day. They have until Friday to provide a proper photo ID for their ballots to be counted. So far the state has only recorded 212 provisional ballots, though there could be more.
Wolfe said there are typically only about 1,000 provisional ballots issued in general elections.
State law allows a losing candidate to request a recount if the difference in votes is within 1%, and Donald Trump's presidential campaign has vowed to do so.
Ballot record set
The number of voters in this election, about 3.3 million, set an all-time record for the state, while the turnout as a percentage of the estimated voting-age population was about 72.5%, just shy of the all-time record of 73.2% turnout in 2004.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, voters returned a record 1,924,838 absentee and early ballots out of 2,071,727 requested. It’s unclear how many absentee ballots were returned after polls closed Tuesday, which would cause them to be disqualified under state law and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Some absentee voters may have decided not to return their absentee ballot and instead vote in person.
Turnout was substantially higher than in 2016, when about 3 million, or 67% of voting-age Wisconsinites cast a ballot.
Both candidates received higher percentages of support than Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Biden benefited from higher support in reliably Democratic Dane and Milwaukee counties, as well as a stronger showing than Clinton in the reliably Republican Milwaukee suburban counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington.
For most of Tuesday night and early Wednesday, Trump retained a consistent lead in early returns. But that lead evaporated when the totals from Democratic-leaning absentee ballots were accounted for in the state’s urban centers of Milwaukee and Green Bay.
Kenosha County delivered its final unofficial vote totals as dawn was breaking shortly after 6 a.m., sealing Biden’s lead.
Still, election officials caution election night results are unofficial and need to be certified by municipal, county and state officials before they can become valid.
A true battleground
Three of the past five presidential elections in Wisconsin were decided by less than 1 percentage point. Trump, in 2016, was the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 1984. Polls leading up to the election had shown Biden with a larger lead, just as they had for Clinton four years earlier.
In 2000, Al Gore won Wisconsin by just 5,708 votes over George W. Bush, a difference of just 0.22 of a percentage point. Trump won in 2016 by 22,748 votes, or 0.77 of a percentage point.
Wisconsin decided the 2016 presidential election and both campaigns made it a focus this year. Trump visited the state 10 times this year, including four stops in the final 10 days of the race. Biden visited three times during the campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photos: Election Day 2020
The Orpheum Theatre serves as a polling location on Election Day in Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
Young voters fill out their ballots at the Orpheum Theatre.
Voters cast ballots and election officials process absentee ballots at the polling place at the Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday.
A voter leaves the O’Keeffe Middle School polling place on the morning of Election Day.
Margaret Berg and her friend Katya Maes walk along North Shore Drive in Madison in United States Post Office box costumes. Berg made the costumes out of boxes from new patio heaters, and the two women walked around downtown Madison the morning of Election Day.
Voters fill in ballots behind privacy screens at the Olbrich Gardens polling place on Election Day in Madison, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
Election officials Tom Otto and Alex Foote feed absentee ballots into the voting tabulator machine at the O’Keeffe Middle School polling place on Election Day in Madison. Absentee ballots were delivered to each polling location, and election officials spent the day processing them.
One of Madison’s busiest polling places, O’Keeffe Middle School, had a slow stream of voters in and out of its doors on Election Day in Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
Election officials Jess Wilson and Jessie Chmell process absentee ballots at the the O’Keeffe Middle School polling place.
According to the Dane County Clerk, Olbrich Gardens is one of Madison’s busiest polling places.
Election official Sharon Lewandowski sanitizes a voting booth at the Olbrich Gardens polling place on Tuesday.
Voters wait in line and filled out ballots at Olbrich Gardens Tuesday morning.
Election Official Bonnie Buchanan sits at the voter registration table at Olbrich Gardens.
An election official holds a stack of absentee ballots as she waits in line to put them into the voting machine at Olbrich Gardens on Tuesday morning.
Voters and election officials stream in and out of the commons at Olbrich Gardens Tuesday morning.
A voter fills in her ballot at the O’Keeffe Middle School polling place on Election Day in Madison, on Tuesday.
An election official moves from one station to another to process absentee ballots while a voter fills in his ballot behind a privacy screen, at O’Keeffe Middle School Tuesday morning.
A voter fills out a ballot behind a privacy screen at O’Keeffe Middle School Tuesday morning.
Logan Millenbah holds a sign, directing voters to the Chazen Museum polling place on Election Day in Madison, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
A Prius with “Vote” written on the windows is parked outside of the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which serves as a polling place on Election Day.
Signs direct voters to the polling place within the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union on Election Day.
Election Official Lindsey Weiss stands in line to process voters’ absentee ballots at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union polling place on Tuesday morning.
Voting booths are empty as election officials wait in line to process absentee ballots at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union Tuesday morning.
Hand sanitizer and “I voted” stickers are available for voters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union polling place, on Election Day.
University of Wisconsin - Madison psychology major Madeline Wellman poses for a portrait with a #BadgersVote mask, outside of Smith Residence Hall on Election Day.
Election official Nate Stevens assists voter Joan Wheeler with curbside voting outside of the Faith Bible Community Church polling place on Election Day in Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Election officials and University of Wisconsin-Madison Juniors Kisa Sow and Jordan Shapiro wait on the sidewalk of West Johnson Street for curbside voters, as a person sleeps on a doorstep behind them, on Election Day in Madison.
A cyclist rides past the Orpheum Theatre polling place on Election Day.
Robert Crisler stands on the side of Dayton Street, holding a sign directing voters to the poling place at Nicholas Recreation Center, at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, on Tuesday afternoon.
Londyn and Lily sit in the back of a mini van as a small crowd gathers in the plaza at the corner of North Carroll and State streets in support of the anti-racism movement, on Election Night in Madison, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
As a small crowd gathers near the Capitol, Jalynn Hoffer (3) peeks through an opening in the art installment the evening of election night.
Londyn and Lily play in the plaza at the corner of North Carroll and State streets as a small crowd gathers in support of the anti-racism movement, on election night in Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The marquee at the Orpheum Theatre reads "Vote out voter suppression," on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Scott Ball uses a flashlight to see the carne asada steak on his grill, during an outdoor election results party in the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood of Madison, on Tuesday night.
Frances Ball, 9, plays a glowing stacking game in the rooftop tent of a camper, while the election news is projected on a screen below her, at an outdoor election results party in the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood of Madison Tuesday night.
Neighbors gather for an outdoor election results party in the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood of Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Frances Ball, 9, and Anna King, 9, sit on a blanket and watch the election news at an outdoor election results block party.
Annie Kubena and her dog Vinnie settle in for a long night of watching election news, at their home in Madison, on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Gary Olson and Tony Cass watch election coverage on televisions at Wilson’s Bar in Madison on election night.
Sports and election coverage are shown on televisions at Wilson’s Bar in Madison on Tuesday night.
In this Series
The 2020 election is over. Here’s what happened (and what didn’t)
Phil Brinkman | Wisconsin State Journal
City Editor
Phil Brinkman is city editor for the Wisconsin State Journal.
Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal
Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS")
