Wisconsin Elections Commission, Evers, declare Joe Biden winner of Wisconsin
WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairwoman Ann Jacobs and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed an official document Monday afternoon, Nov. 30, declaring that the state's 10 electoral college votes will be awarded to Joe Biden.
"Today I carried out my duty to certify the November 3rd election, and as required by state and federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris," Evers said in a Tweet Monday.
Republican Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Dean Knudson said Jacobs and Evers "colluded" to make the decision because Jacobs does not have the authority to do so without the entire commission.
"The Elections Commission, not chair alone, 'For presidential electors, the commission shall prepare a certificate showing the determination of the results of the canvass,'" Knudson tweeted.
The recounts of Dane and Milwaukee County are complete, and they show that President-elect Joe Biden widened his lead by a small margin in Wisconsin. But the legal fight may not be over. President Donald Trump tweeted over the weekend that legal challenges are imminent. His legal adviser, Jenna Ellis, echoed that sentiment in a statement casting doubt over the election process.
What form that pending lawsuit takes is still up in the air. The recount changed the results of the election by less than 100 votes, and did not find evidence of mass voter fraud.
“I’m really wondering what the basis of the lawsuit is going to be," UWM Political Science Professor Mordecai Lee said. "After all, the results of the recount, I guess you’d say are ho hum.”
Two of the biggest challenges the president has levied are that all early, in-person votes should be thrown out, and voters wrongly identified themselves as "indefinitely confined" to vote absentee.
Attorney Josh Kaul told CBS 58 he's confident the president's legal challenges in Wisconsin won't go far. He said so far, Trump has mostly only challenged these votes in two counties, and the inconsistency in where he wants the votes to count does not bode well for the potential lawsuit.
“They’re asking for what are really new rules to be applied to ballots that have already been cast in two of our counties, and those rules would be much more strict than the rules that were applied statewide,” Kaul said.
The chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission finalized the results Monday, Nov. 30, but the non-presidential results still need to be certified Tuesday, Dec 1.
Experts say even if the conservative-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court takes up the case, there's a high hurdle for the Trump campaign to overcome.