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A third Wisconsin state representative has added his support to decertify the state’s 2020 election results and recall its 10 electoral votes.
Rep. Tim Ramthun spoke at a press conference on Monday and said that a third lawmaker had signed on as a co-sponsor in an effort to have the Legislature decertify the election results.
“This subject matter of elections is number one in the state and it will not go away until it’s resolved,” he said at the news conference.
Ramthun said that Rep. Chuck Wichgers has “extended his support” for the bill, which advocates for an action that legal experts say is impossible.
Rep. Brandtjen signed the bill on Friday.
“Fair and honest elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and we know that the 2020 presidential election was neither fair, nor transparent,” Brandtjen said in a news release announcing her support.
“Tyranny is at Wisconsin’s door.”
Senator Kathy Bernier is one of very few Wisconsin Republicans who has vocally denounced the election conspiracies and told the Washington Post that Brandtjen’s decision was just to get attention.
“She’s just making a name for herself,” Bernier said. “I think it’s a dang joke.”
Ramthun has also mentioned that he is open to decertifying the 2018 and 2019 elections because absentee ballot drop boxes were used to collect votes.
“I know there’s a line here we have to address with the 2020 election,” he said. “If you want to go back and do them all and go back multiple elections. I’m fine with that. But one step at a time. Let’s get what was done wrong done first, and then we can go back further. I’m wide open to it. I don’t think the 2019 election in the spring was right. I don’t think that the 2018 fall election was right. I’d like to go back further too but I don’t want to muddy the waters with those kinds of inquiries.”
Ramthun is running in the Republican primary for governor in Wisconsin and has been one of the state’s most outspoken advocates of election-related conspiracies.
Ramthun hasn’t been able to get any state senators or 55 of the other Republican representatives to sign his bill. Due to the lack of support, he said he will be extending the deadline for joining the bill until August 15.
“So we do not have time for rhetoric or platitudes on this issue,” he said as he explained why they were extending the deadline.
“We need action. We need closure, we need a remedy and that’s why I’m here again today and I’ll be back.”
“That’s three weeks from today. Why? So other noise and deflection and distraction could maybe be eliminated and they could get back to doing their job so we can get this done,” he continued.
“I don’t have a choice and I will tell you also that the unprecedented nature and historic nature of this question simply needs more time as well. I hate to add time to it because we’ve dragged a lot of time and wasted a lot of time for 20-plus months. But in order for me to get consensus from the body and get participation and support, I have no choice. So I’m willing to do that for three more weeks from today.”
It is unclear if Ramthun’s efforts will succeed, but it is a start.
