WILL report: No widespread Wisconsin election fraud but illegalities

MILWAUKEE - A conservative law firm found no widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin's 2020 election, but the group alleges that some state laws were violated.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) reviewed copies of some 20,000 Wisconsin ballots during their 10-month investigation.

"These are all of the ballots and all of the ballot envelopes that we sort of gathered from different communities around the state," Will Flanders, Ph. D. of WILL said as he showed FOX6 the boxes of documents. 

"Here’s someone who wrote in Paul Ryan and left the rest blank."

They pulled ballots of wards where 2020 results didn’t resemble previous elections, which helped lead them to say they found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

"Our hand recount was also consistent, in general, with what was found by the machine initially," said Flanders.

The report counters unproven allegations voting machines switched votes.

"We found that a lot of the rumors and ideas that were out there weren’t backed up by the facts," said Flanders.

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Former President Donald Trump had tweeted about one voting tabulator company: "Dominion is running our election. Rigged!"

"We looked simply between 2016 and 2020," said Flanders. "Did the president, President Trump, increase his margin or decrease his margins in those communities? What we found in Wisconsin, in Dominion communities, Trump actually increased his margins over 2016, and Democrats actually did worse in those areas than they did in 2016."

Mel Barnes of liberal law firm Law Forward reacted to the report. "This report from conservative lawyers confirms that the election was safe and secure. They did not find fraud, and it is time for Wisconsin to move on, to stop harassing election officials and wasting taxpayer money. " 

On Monday, Dec. 6, days before the report came out, Governor Tony Evers defended the state's 2020 election.

"We had a safe and secure election," said Evers. "It’s over. We have a good process in place. Let’s move on."

Multiple courts heard challenges to Wisconsin's election. A federal judge in Milwaukee appointed by then-President Trump ruled last year against Trump.

"This is an extraordinary case. A sitting president who did not prevail in his bid for reelection has asked for federal court help in setting aside the popular vote based on disputed issues of election administration, issues he plainly could have raised before the vote occurred," wrote Judge Brett Ludwig. "This Court has allowed plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits. In his reply brief, plaintiff ‘asks that the Rule of Law be followed.’ It has been." 

In the new report, the conservative law firm says state election law was broken, and the Wisconsin Legislature should act. They claim, "The number of votes that did not comply with existing legal requirements exceeded Joe Biden's margin of victory."

One of the legal issues this report brings up is absentee ballot drop boxes, which WILL says are illegal. The state housed more than 500 – including 15 in Milwaukee, outside City Hall and Milwaukee Public Library locations.

WILL points to state law. It says of absentee ballots: "The envelope shall be mailed by the elector, or delivered in person, to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) brings up a 2020 letter from a lawyer representing Wisconsin's Republican legislative leaders Speaker Robin Vos and then-Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. The lawyer said the leaders "wholeheartedly support" options like this one: "...voters may also deposit their completed absentee ballots in authorized 'drop boxes,' which 'must be secured and locked at all times' to protect ballot integrity."

There are unresolved issues about Wisconsin elections as the state prepares for contentious 2022 gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.