Wisconsin’s election commission quietly certified Donald Trump’s victory in the state on Friday, moving past the controversies surrounding the 2020 election.
Commission Chair Ann Jacobs confirmed the results during a brief Zoom meeting, showing Trump won with 1,697,626 votes, while Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, received 1,668,229 votes. The process lasted just six minutes and felt uneventful compared to the uproar following the 2020 election.
Back then, Trump refused to accept Joe Biden’s narrow win in Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes. He requested a recount in two Democratic-leaning counties, Dane and Milwaukee, but it didn’t change the results.
Trump also tried to disqualify over 221,000 ballots from these counties, arguing that certain absentee ballots and procedures were improper.
However, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court rejected his lawsuit in December 2020, calling most of the claims too late or baseless. A separate federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the results was also dismissed.
Under pressure from Trump, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in 2021 to investigate alleged election fraud.
That investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing. Recently, Gableman faced accusations of breaking ethical rules during the probe, and the state Supreme Court will decide if he faces any penalties.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s election administrator, Meagan Wolfe, became a target of false conspiracy theories accusing her of rigging the 2020 election for Biden. Some Republican legislators want to fire her, but the election commission has filed a lawsuit to protect her position. The case is now with the state Supreme Court.
Although Trump’s recent victory has eased some tensions, a group within the Republican Party remains distrustful of mail ballots and electronic vote counting. Still, other battleground states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico have certified their election results without major issues in recent weeks.