A day before the presidential election, the Republican National Committee on Monday said it had filed a lawsuit against the City of Milwaukee claiming its Election Commission had “arbitrarily” limited the number of observers allowed in some of its early in-person absentee voting locations and would do so at the polls on Tuesday as well.
The lawsuit claims that the city would also limit observers to one Republican and one Democrat at its polling locations on Election Day, thereby casting “doubt on the administration of our elections and cause a lack of voter confidence in our electoral process.”
The city’s top election official fired back, saying the Election Commission “favors the greatest possible transparency during elections” and rebutting the RNC’s claims.
“Despite the (Milwaukee Election Commission) maintaining open communications with the RNC, including meeting as recently as last night, it seems that filing a lawsuit was their goal all along,” Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez said in a statement.
“The (Milwaukee Election Commission) denies the allegation that observers will be arbitrarily limited. However, observers may be subject to reasonable limitations, a power given to chief inspectors under Wisconsin law. At no point was the Republican Party denied the presence of an observer during the in-person absentee voting period, nor will they be denied that presence on Election Day.”…