Wisconsin GOP Slams Donald Trump Over Election Delay Comments

MILWAUKEE, WI — Two top Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin are rejecting President Donald Trump's suggestion to delay the November general election on suspicion of voter fraud related to mail-in voting procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump tweeted Thursday: "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) authored Twitter posts Thursday saying they opposed delaying the November election.

In a tweet, Vos said Republican leaders were right to oppose a delay in the April election in Wisconsin and, likewise, should resist all efforts to delay the one in November.

"Elections need to happen for democracy to function," he wrote.

Steineke was more succinct, saying "Hard NO" to Trump's call.

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Menomonee Falls) issued a statement opposing any change.

“The election should not be delayed," Sensenbrenner said in a statement published in a JSOnline report. "The 20th Amendment sets the terms of the election and is clear. The terms of the president and vice president shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.”

Sensenbrenner is not seeking reelection for Wisconsin's 5th District congressional seat.

Congress Would Have To Approve Date Change

Federal law states that presidential elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every fourth year. Changing the date would require an act of Congress, which is divided between Republican control in the Senate and Democratic control in the House.

Wisconsin GOP, Evers Battled Over April Election

Wisconsin's April 7 presidential primary and general election were the subject of an extended legal battle between the governor and Republican leaders right as the state was grappling with the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, local clerks were scrambling to address poll worker shortages, safety precautions at polls and an apparent shortage of absentee ballots.

Less than 24 hours before in-person voting was set to begin on April 7, Evers signed an executive order suspending in-person voting until June 9, "unless the Legislature passes and the Governor approves a different date for in-person voting."

The order never made it that far.

Republican legislators filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court hours after the order was made public, arguing that Evers' order was unconstitutional.

"We are immediately challenging this executive order in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court," Vos said in a joint statement with state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald. "The clerks of this state should stand ready to proceed with the election. The governor's executive order is clearly an unconstitutional overreach."

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, whose political balance at the time leaned 5-2 in favor of conservative justices, ruled 4-2 that the April 7 election must go on. Justice Daniel Kelly, who eventually lost in the April 7 election, recused himself from that case.