The Wisconsin Office of Special Council (WOSC), one of the state’s 2020 election auditors, is inviting county clerks to meet with them and share election information and concerns.
“I would like to formally invite you to meet with me personally – in person or by phone or video call – to discuss these concerns, as well as any other thoughts of any nature that you might have about the State’s investigation,” the letter states.
According to a press release from the head investigator, Mike Gableman, the letter was sent to Green Lake County Clerk Liz Otto, Washington County Clerk Ashley Reichert, Wood County Clerk Trent Miner, Lincoln County Clerk Christopher Marlow, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell, and Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson after those clerks “expressed concerns after receiving a letter from the Office of Special Counsel requesting that they preserve data and other information of potential relevance to the investigation.”
The WOSC had issued a statement in early September requesting that data from the 2020 election be preserved so that it could be audited. The letter from September 9 that Gableman wrote to the Wisconsin Election Commission Chairperson Meagan Wolfe said, “I hereby request that you and your office preserve any and all records and evidence […] including but not limited to information retained on any and all voting machines,” such as “metadata, router information, and/or access logs.”
The recent letter invited the clerks who were concerned to meet with Gableman “personally to discuss any questions, concerns, or observations they might have regarding his ongoing investigation into the 2020 election.” Gableman later clarified and said that the invitation to meet was open to all 1,922 county and municipal clerks.
“Please contact my office at your earliest convenience to schedule a time to discuss the best practices you had in place that assured your county’s successful administration of the 2020 election,” the letter said.
Gableman said that the cooperation of the clerks would help the process go more smoothly.
He wrote, “The purpose of this investigation is to ensure that Wisconsin’s elections are run properly so that the public can have confidence in the process, and your active cooperation will go a long way toward helping the Wisconsin Assembly achieve that goal in a timely fashion. The doors of the Office of Special Counsel will remain open to you and your staff throughout the duration of this investigation, and I look forward to speaking with you very soon.”
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun and The Wisconsin Daily Star | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
Photo “Wisconsin Capitol” by Ander107. CC BY-SA 3.0.
