Records from Wisconsin Election Inquiry Released to Public After Extensive Litigation and Delay

In response to American Oversight’s litigation, the clerk of the Wisconsin Assembly posted records from the Assembly’s Office of Special Counsel (OSC) — records that OSC lawyers had first promised would be made available to the public nearly one year ago. 

Last year, American Oversight learned that OSC — headed by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman — was routinely deleting records from the partisan review of the 2020 election. American Oversight, represented by Democracy Forward and Pines Bach LLP, sued OSC to prevent further deletion of public records. In July 2022, a judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the destruction of records in OSC’s custody. 

Rather than releasing the documents immediately, OSC transferred them to the Assembly’s chief clerk and in October 2022 stated that the clerk would post the records online. OSC then claimed in a June 2023 court filing that the clerk had already posted all of the documents, which was not the case. OSC has not corrected that filing, and the chief clerk posted most of the records on Monday. 

Statement from Heather Sawyer, Executive Director of American Oversight:

“We are pleased that American Oversight’s several lawsuits have confirmed the people’s right to records from OSC’s inquiry and that these additional records are finally being made public. Despite OSC and Assembly Speaker Vos’ best efforts to shield the office’s work from scrutiny, multiple courts affirmed the public’s right to these documents, and corroborated that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.” 

American Oversight is currently processing and reviewing the records, and will provide updates on their content here.