Heated Discussion at Wisconsin Elections Commission Meeting

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020 -- 1:00 PM

(WMTV) -A heated discussion took place during the Wisconsin Elections Commission meeting on Tuesday. Commissioner Dean Knudson called for the Chair of the Commission, Ann Jacobs, to resign.

This comes after she prepared a canvass report showing President-Elect Joe Biden as the winner of the election. Commissioner Knudson says he never saw the report and says Jacobs violated the law.  “The law can’t be any clearer about what needs to go on here. The chair has certain duties and responsibilities and they are spelled out in 7.703A, as you’ve pointed us to. But also in 7.703G where at the end it says you’ll prepare a statement and deliver it to the commission. We are the commission. You didn’t deliver anything to us. I’ve yet to see what you prepared yesterday. You’ve violated the law in that and it was a pretty clear violation,” says Commissioner Knudson.  Commissioner Knudson then asking to table the rest of the meeting. “I’ve lost all confidence in you as the chair. I can’t see that we can go forward as a group. I don’t think you realize even at this moment how much you have destroyed the bipartisan nature of what has gone on.”  A vote was then held on whether to continue the meeting, with the majority voting to move forth. Chair Jacobs promptly responded to Commissioner Knudson’s comments.

“Number one, I am not withdrawing this chair. Number two, what I did was not illegal. You are misinformed about what took place and absolutely incorrect,” says Jacobs.  Jacobs continued to say that she carried out the process as it has been done for years. “You can shake your head. You got to spout off, now it’s my turn. So a preparation of the canvass was signed by me and that document is available online and was available online within minutes after it was completed... No certificates of election were issued under 7.705A whatsoever, because a president is not elected here in Wisconsin. There is no certificate of election 7.705A. That remains for today’s agenda so that the people who were elected can now formally be certified as being elected,” says Jacobs.  More than two hours later, commissioners successfully certified the non-presidential election results before entering closed session.

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