A Republican state elections commissioner says lawmakers calling for his resignation are looking for a scapegoat because Donald Trump lost Wisconsin.
Dean Knudson made the comments Friday, a day after Racine County Sheriff Chris Schmaling accused him and other commissioners of committing felonies by telling election clerks to mail absentee ballots to nursing homes instead of visiting them in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Knudson denied the allegation and questioned why Schmaling isn’t pursuing charges against anyone in Racine County if he believes fraud occurred. He said Republican lawmakers — some of whom he served with when he was in the Assembly — were wrong to ask him to step down.
“Certain public figures in Wisconsin are under intense pressure to find someone to be the fall guy for Trump’s loss in 2020 in Wisconsin,” Knudson said. “It is the equivalent of losing the playoff football game and six months later still complaining about the bad call by the referee and insisting that they never officiate a game again.
“There are a lot of individuals that are under pressure to try to find some explanation other than the obvious one.”
Asked what that obvious explanation was, he said, “That (Joe) Biden got more votes in Wisconsin than Trump did.”
Schmaling during an hourlong news conference Thursday described what he called election law violations at the Ridgewood Care Center in Mount Pleasant but said he was not recommending charging anyone.
He and District Attorney Patricia Hanson did not return messages Friday.
Knudson said he didn’t understand why Schmaling wasn’t seeking charges and why he hadn’t looked into whether there were problems at other nursing homes in Racine County.
“It’s rare for us to have had on-the-record testimony from the people that were actually involved with it, admitting to what they were doing. And I just don’t see why there wouldn’t be prosecution for that,” Knudson said.
Knudson described the situation at Ridgewood as “just outrageous behavior within a nursing home that apparently is being swept under the rug.”
During the news conference, Schmaling and Sgt. Michael Luell said eight residents with cognitive issues had been “victimized” because Ridgewood workers had filled out absentee ballot envelopes and ballots on their behalf. They suggested Ridgewood workers put pressure on residents and failed to take security measures when storing ballots.
Schmaling attributed the problems to the Wisconsin Elections Commission because it told municipal clerks to send absentee ballots to nursing homes during the pandemic instead of following a law that requires them to send poll workers known as special voting deputies there. The commission told clerks to send absentee ballots because nursing homes were strictly limiting visitors after the pandemic started….
Schmaling’s accusations about voting in nursing homes — and lawmakers’ push for resignations — emerge as Wisconsin Republicans conduct reviews of the 2020 election, including one that is costing taxpayers nearly $700,000. Biden defeated Trump in the state by nearly 21,000 votes — a result that has been repeatedly confirmed by recounts and court rulings.
While Knudson said he found Schmaling’s findings alarming if true, he said they did not draw the election results into question — even if similar activities happened at other facilities.
“There’s nothing here that that comes close to shifting the results of the election,” Knudson said.
He said he was puzzled by Schmaling’s decision not to look into other nursing homes in Racine County if he believed he had found problems at Ridgewood.