Trump Files Suit in Wisconsin, Seeks to Forward Case to State Legislature

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 29, 2020. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Dec. 2 against election officials and leaders in Wisconsin, alleging “unlawful and unconstitutional” acts and asking the court to forward the matter to the state legislature.

The suit (pdf), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Division, focuses on “unlawful and unconstitutional acts by Wisconsin public officials,” the Trump campaign stated. Defendants in the suit include the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, Kenosha, Green Bay, and Racine, other election officials, Secretary of State Douglas La Follette and Gov. Tony Evers.

The suit is asking the court to declare a number of alleged “constitutional violations by defendants” and send the matter to the Wisconsin Legislature for appropriate relief pursuant to Article II, Section 1.2, ahead of the Electoral College vote.

“The U.S. Constitution makes the state legislature the final decision-makers on how to address constitutional violations involving a presidential election, and textually grants them the authority to select delegates to the Electoral College,” the Trump campaign wrote in announcing the suit.

Bill Bock, the lead counsel in the suit, said in a statement: “Nothing is more important to our national fabric and future than integrity in our electoral process. This lawsuit is one step in the direction of fairer, more transparent, more professional and ultimately more reliable elections in America.

“Today’s federal lawsuit in Wisconsin reveals an apparently coordinated effort to push a new form of balloting upon Wisconsin voters that was not protected by uniform chain of custody and security standards and protocols.

“Regrettably, this is the same sort of conduct we have seen across many battleground states that Democrats knew they had to win to defeat the President where the rules of the election were changed at the last minute and guardrails against fraud were simultaneously lowered.”

The suit alleges that the WEC committed a number of unlawful actions, including issuing directives that undercut photo ID requirements under state law.

The lawsuit also alleges that the mayors in the state’s five largest cities planned a new form of balloting that uses unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes “without adequate or uniform chain of custody standards and security protocols contrary to the Wisconsin Election Code,” the Trump campaign stated.

Its suit alleges that the WEC “provided for none of the public oversight and accountability protections” regarding the unmanned ballot drop boxes, “such as the opportunity for public watchers, notice to the public regarding how the program was administered and uniform chain of custody standards for the ballots.” Such protections are applicable to other forms of balloting, such as in-person voting, in-office absentee voting, and absentee voting by mail, under the Wisconsin Elections Code.

Residents drop mail-in ballots in a ballot box outside of the Tippecanoe branch library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Oct. 20, 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images

The suit also alleges that election workers in the five Wisconsin cities “engaged in the prohibited practice of ballot tampering by manipulating absentee ballot envelope certifications” at the direction of the WEC, in violation of state law.

Sstate leaders didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times. The WEC said in an emailed statement that it “does not comment on lawsuits.”

The Dec. 2 filing comes after the WEC determined the state’s presidential election results in favor of Democrat Joe Biden on Nov. 30. Gov. Evers, a Democrat, announced later on Nov. 30 that he signed the certificate of ascertainment, which formally awards electoral votes to Biden.

The Trump campaign on Dec. 1 filed a lawsuit to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to challenge the election results. That lawsuit alleges unlawful actions that affect at least 221,000 ballots.